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THE LIBRARY

THE UNIVERSITY

OF CALIFORNIA

LOS ANGELES

HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS

BEING

THE FIFTH PART

A HISTOEY OF COUNTY DUBLIN

AND

AN EXTRA VOLUME

OF THE

iHopal ^ocictp of ^dntiquaric.^ of ^B^^f^*^"^

1917

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HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS

BEING

rtlE FIFTH PART

A HISTORY OF COUNTY DUBLIN

AND

AN EXTRA VOLUME

®I/e §0pl <^0rirtir 0f ^utrquurics of Ir^Iauir

FRANCIS ELRINGTON BALL

HON. LITT.D., DUBLIN

DUBLIN
FEINTED AT THE UNIVERSITY PRESS

FOK THE ROYAL SOCIETY OF ANTIQUAKIKS OF IRELAND

1917

PREFACE

The Council desires to preface this volume with the following
explanation.

HowTH AND ITS OwNERS, published as an Extra Volume by
the Eoyal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, forms Part V of
Dr. F. Elrington Ball's "History of County Dublin." The
previous volumes of the History were published as follows : —
Part I, commencing with the parish of Monkstown, in 1902 ;
Part II, in which Donnybrook was the first parish described, in
1903 ; Part III, commencing with the parish of Tallaght, in 1905 ;
and Part IV, Clonsilla being the first parish described, in 1906.
'' Howth and its Owners " differs from the preceding Parts in
dealing with a single parish, one that possesses great interest on
account of its position and its traditions. The Castle of Howth,
perhaps the most beautifully situated residence in County Dublin,
is of much historic importance. Its owners, the feudal Barons of
Howth, played a notable part in the various scenes of Irish
history. Their chief manor was conterminous with the present
parish of Howth. It is one of the few manors that have remained
in the hands of its original Lords from the time of the Anglo-
Norman Conquest.

The long delay between the appearance of Part IV and the
present volume is due to a request made to the author, in

715475

vi HOWTH AND ITS OWNEES.

1908, to undertake the publication of an edition of Swift's
Letters upon which Mr. Caesar Litton lalkiner was engaged at
the time of his death. No editor so well qualified as Dr. Ball
could be found, and he generously laid aside his History to take
up that work.

When the author found himself once more free to resume his
History, the European War had broken out, and his own outlook
had been darkened by the death of those who had been beside him
in the inception of the book, especially one most near to himself
who was hoping to see its completion, and who was taken from him
on the eve of the publication of the last volume of Swift's Letters.
For a time these circumstances prevented the consideration of any
literary undertaking. But the " History of County Dublin " was
too important a work to be allowed to stand unfinished longer than
was absolutely necessary; and on the solicitations of his friends
Dr. Ball consented to consider seriously its completion. He has
now entered on the task ; but for the reasons which, by his own
wish, have been only briefly touched upon, he decided that the
publication of the further volumes should take a difierent form
from the previous ones. The present volume was, therefore,
ofl'ered to our Society to be brought out as an Extra Volume, with
this important difference from other Extra Volumes — that the
whole expense of publication has been defrayed by the author,
and that the Society has not been called upon in any way.
The Society is greatly indebted to Dr. Ball, who has further
intimated his intention of completing the History in two more
volumes, with a general review and index, which he likewise
intends to be published by our Society on the same generous
terms as the present work.

PREFACE. vii

The Council has been asked by the autlior to convey his most
grateful thanks to all who have given him assistance. To the late
and to the present owner of Howth he is indebted in an especial
degree. Without the assistance of the late Earl of Howth, and of
his successor, Commander J. C. Gaisford St. Lawrence, the volume
could not have been written. To Lady Margaret Domvile he is
under much obligation for the kind manner in which she placed
her knowledge of the history of her family at his disposal. To
Miss Mahaffy he is no less indebted, and the volume owes much
to her intimate acquaintance with the peninsula and its traditions.
Finally, the author has requested the Council to record his deep
sense of the generous friendship of Mr. T. J. Westropp, the
President; Mr. E. C. Pt. Armstrong, Professor Pt. A. S. Macalister,
and the Honorary General Secretary, Mr. Charles MacNeill.

CONTENTS.

Chapter i'age

I. Introduction, ...... 1

II. In Early Times, . . . . .9

III. The Middle Ages, . . . . .23

IV. In Plantagenet and Tudor Times, . . .40
V. Under Elizabeth, . . . . .68

VI. In Jacobean Times, . . . . .88

VII. The Commonwealth and the Restoration, . .112

VIII. In the Time of Swift and Grattan, . . .127

IX. As A Packet Station and After, . . . 145

APPENDIX.

A. Confirmation of circa 1188, . . , .155

B. Confirmation of circa 1190, . . . .156

C. Cadets of the House of Howth, 1200-1400, . . 157

D. Rectors and Prebend.yries of Howth, 1200-1400, . 158

E. Rectors and Prebendaries of Howth, 1400-1600, . 159

F. Cadets of the House of Howth, 1400-1600, . . 160

G. Rectors and Prebendaries of Howth, 1600-1700, . 161
H. Cadets of the House of Howth, 1600-1800, , . 161

I. Rectors and Prebendaries of Howth, 1700-1800, . 162

K. Parish Priests of Howth, 1600-1800, . .163

L. The Furniture of the House of Howth, 1746-52, . 164

M. Rectors and Prebendaries of Howth, 1800-1900, . 167

N. Parish Priests of Howth, 1800-1900, . . 167

0. Inscription on the Tomb at Howth, . . .168
Index, ........ 169

ILLUSTRATIONS.

The illustrations marked with an asterisk are from drawings or photographs by
the President of the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Ireland, Mr. Thomas Johnson
Wcstropp, M.A.

A Prospect of the House of Howth, circa 1735, from an
oil-painting in Howth Castle,

The Gateway Tower and the Keep,*

The Sword of Howth ,'^'' ....

Plans of the Gateway Tower and the Keep,"^'

Plan of the Baily Fort,*

St. Fintan's Church, from a photograph hy Mr, T. F

Geoghegan, .....

Euins on Ireland's Eye before restoration, from a wood

cut in Miss Stokes's " Early Christian Architecture

in Ireland," .....

Device on Tomb — Emblems of the Passion,''-'

The Cromlech, and the Site of the Early Castle, from

drawings by Gabriel Beranger, preserved in the

Eoyal Irish Academy, ....

Deed concerning the Church, circa 1235, preserved in the

National Museum of Ireland,
Corr Castle,* .....
Plan of St. Mary's Church,*
Tomb — Effigies and Inscription,*
Arms on Tomb — Plunkett and St. Lawrence,* .
Tomb — East and West ends,*
Tomb — South side,* ....
Tomb — North side,* ....
Plan of Corr Castle,* ....
The Bells of St. Mary's Church,*
The Inscription on the Tomb, deciphered and drawn by

Professor R. A. S. Macalister, litt.d., see p. 168,
St. Mary's Church and the College,'''

Frontispiece.

PAGE

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. 12

to face 15

18
22

to face 23

to face

to face
to face

27
28
31
37
39
41
42
43
45
48

to face 5 1
to face 59

HOWTH AND ITS OWNEES. xi

<;!orr Castle — East side,'^' ....

Corr Castle — Eecess on third floor,*

Dragon at Entrance to the Castle Gardens,*'

Gateway and Tahlet, .....

The Castle, circa 1780, from an engraving in Thomas

Milton's Views of Irish Seats,
The Castle, circa 1820, from a drawing by George Petrie

preserved in the National Gallery of Ireland,
Arms on Tomb — Fleming, ....

The Harbour, from a drawing by Miss Stokes, .
The Castle from the West, from a photograph by Mr. T. F.
Geoghegan, ......

The Castle from the East, from a photograph by Mr. T. F.
Geoghegan, ......

Bishop Montgomery and his Wife, from portraits in
Howth Castle, .....

Arms on Tomb — White,* ....

The Hall of the Castle, from a photograph by Mr. T. F.

Geoghegan, ...... to face 115

Thomas, Lord Howth, 1671-1727, and William, Lord

Howth, 1727-1748, from portraits in Howth Castle, to face 125
The Harbour, circa 1790, from a print by Walker, after
Wheatley ; and the Rescue of an Aeronaut, from a
mezzotint by Ward, after Barralet, . . . to face 129

Nicola, wife of Lieut. -Gen. R. Gorges, and Lucy, wife of

William, Lord Howth, from portraits in Howth Castle, to face 135
Swift's Chair, preserved in Howth Castle, . . . 137

The Honble. William St. Lawrence, from a portrait in

Howth Castle, . . . . . .140

Thomas, first Earl of Howth, and William, second Earl

of Howth, from portraits in Howth Castle, . . to face 143

Freedom-Box presented to first Earl of Howth, . . .144

Thomas, third Earl of Howth, and William, fourth Earl

of Howth, from portraits in Howth Castle, . . to face 147

The third Earl in the Hunting-field, and Peep-o"-Day Boy,

from oil-paintings in Howth Castle, . . . to face 153

PAGE

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to face

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105

111

HOT^^TH AND ITS OWNERS.

CHAPTER I.

INTKODUCTION.

The peninsula of Howth, which is about three miles long, forms
the extremity of the north-eastern boundary of Dublin Bay. It
rises abruptly from the sea, and attains to an elevation of over
five hundred and fifty feet. As its isthmus is flat and narrow, it
appears from a distance to be completely surrounded by water.
It is the most striking feature of the coast-line of the county
of Dublin, and gains additional attraction from an island, of
pyramidal shape, known as Ireland's Eye, which lies close to its
northern shore, and is visible across the isthmus from the south.

In the blue waters of the Irish Sea the peninsula and the
island are singularly picturesque objects as the light and shade
throw into relief the grey of their rocks, the brown of their
withered bracken, and the green of their grassy slopes. In all
ages the peninsula has been celebrated for its cliff and moorland
scenery. The poets of the Fianna period proclaimed it the loveliest
hill in Erin's isle ; and a word-painter of our own day' has
found a theme in the grandeur of its caverned shores, in the wild
beauty of its gorse-clad hill-sides, and in the brilliant hue of the
rhododendrons that attain perfection in its valleys.-

1 Sir Samuel Ferguson.

'-Writing in the "Irish Times" of June 14, 1902, an American visitor said : —
" It may seem presumptuous for an American to call the attention of Irish people to
one of the beauties of their own country, but he hears so much said of Continental
attractions that he is led to wonder if Dublin people realize that one of the most
beautiful sights in Europe lies at their very door. Ireland itself is the dreamland of
the world, but it is worth u trip across the Atlantic merely to spend an afternoon

2 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

On a first view the peninsula seems to have more connexion
with the present than the past. As it is approached from the
west by its isthmus modern villas and places of worship are alone
seen, and within its limits houses of the last century are every-
where most conspicuous. In addition, an artificial harbour on its
northern shore, and a light-house at its eastern extremity, tend
to increase its association with later times. But a closer inspec-
tion shows that the peninsula contains many ancient remains,
indeed, more than any other area of the same size in the county
of Dublin, and affords much scope for archfeological and historical
research. A cromlech recalls the primeval age ; a fortified head-
land, the days of the Celtic monarchy ; an early sanctuary, the
dawn of Christianity ; and the varied architecture of a castle and
church, whose foundations were laid nearly seven centuries ago,
the changes of subsequent periods. To the evidence of an event-
ful past afforded by these relics, the place-names make addition,
and establish a close connexion with the Scandinavian invaders,
from whose tongue the names of the peninsula and its island are
derived.

The peninsula and isthmus are now divided into seven
townlands — Burrow, Censure, Howth, Howth Demesne, Quarry,
Sutton North, and Sutton South ; and these townlands, together
with Ireland's Eye and some islets and foreshore,^ form the
present parish of Howth. Within the townland of Howth, which
embraces the eastern half of the peninsula, lie the town of Howth,
the ruins of the mediaeval church, and the fortified headland ;
within the townland of Howth Demesne, which embraces the
north-western part of the peninsula, lies the seat of the lord of
the soil, with the cromlech in its immediate vicinity ; within the
townlands of Censure and Sutton North and South, which
embrace the south-western part of the peninsula, lie the finest

among the rhoiiodendrons at the Howth demesne. It is the fairyland of childhood
called into brief and beautiful reality. I have travelled in most parts of the world,
and have seen the greater part of the show] places on the Continent, but nothing
of the sort can equal in fantastic and sumptuous beauty tliis hanging garden at tlie
Howth demesne. It is a pity that anyone who can visit Urnvth should miss a sight
that is unsurpassed on this side of the Indian Ocean."

^ Thulla Island, the Islands, Sutton Oyster Bed, and the Estuary.

INTRODUCTION. 3

cliff scenery,' and the primitive church ; within the townlands of
Burrow and Quarry, which embrace the isthmus and a strip
alono- the northern shore of the peninsula, lie two motes ; and
on Ireland's Eye there are the remains of another primitive
church.

With the exception of Censure, Howth, and Sutton, these
divisions are modern. In an extent of the parish in the sixteenth
century the townlands are given as Balkyll, Balstreight,
Correston, Houthe, Modaxton, PoUardiston, Shenshire, and
Sutton ;" and in an extent in the eighteenth century tho town-
lands are given as Bodeen, Censure, Howth, Kitestown,
Studdwalls, and Sutton.'' The lands of Balkyll, Balstreight, and
Correston are now portion of the townland of Howth Demesne.
Those of Balkyll lie in its south-eastern angle, those of Balstreight
lie along its northern side, and those of Correston, which are
marked by a ruin known as Corr Castle, lie in its north-western
angle. The lands of Bodeen, Kitestown, and Studdwalls are
now included in the townland of Howth, Of Modaxton and
PoUardiston all trace is lost.

The derivation of these place-names provides an interesting
study. As already mentioned, Howth (i.e. the head) and
Ireland's Eye (i.e. Eria's islet) are of Scandinavian origin,
as is the Naze or Nose of Howth. Balkyll (i.e. the town of the
church), Balstreight (i.e. the town of the strand). Censure (i.e.
the eldest),* Correston (i.e. the town of the round hill), and
Bodeen are of Irish origin, In connexion with the natural
features of the peninsula, many Irish names are also found.
Amongst the names of the hills there occur the Ben (i.e. peak)
of Howth, Carrickbrac (i.e. the speckled rock), Carrickmore (i.e.
the big rock), Loughoreen (i.e. the lake of the cold spring), and

1 Especially near the Needles or Candlesticks, two pointed rocks, which are said to
be the reraains of a rockj^ headland that has been worn into these fantastic forms by
the action of the sea. See article (with woodcut) signed P[etrie] in the " Dublin
Penny Journal," i, 165.

- Fiant, Edw. VI, no. 86.

3 Mason's " History of St. Patrick's Cathedral," p. 64.

* It is possible also that the name may be derived from a proper name, or have
arisen fiom rejection of the land for its bad quality.

B 2

4 HOWTH AND ITS OWXEES.

Shelmaitin (i.e. Martin's seed).^ Amongst the names of the
streams, of which there are four, there are found Balsaggart
Stream (i.e. the stream of the priest's town) and Coulcour Brook
(i.e. the brook of the foamy nook) ; ' while the designations of
other objects include the names Balglass (i.e. the town of the
stream), Balscadden Bay (i.e. the bay of the town of the herrings),
Casana Eock (i.e. the rock of the paths), Coolmine (i.e. the smooth
corner), Cush Point (i.e. the foot), Drumleck (i.e. the ridge of the
flagstones), Dunbo (i.e. the cow fort), Glenaveena (i.e. the glen of
the Fianua), Kilrock (i.e. the rock of the church), Knocknabohill
(i.e. the boys' hillock), Lough Leven (i.e. the lough of the elms),
and Eellig (i.e. the cemetery).^ On Ireland's Eye there occurs the
name Carrigeen (i.e. the little rock),* and a diminutive island
near it is known as ThuUa (i.e. the mound or the addition).

But amidst its manifold interests, the peninsula's chief claim
to fame arises from its owners, whose residence as well as tenure
began at the time of the Anglo-Norman settlement, and has con-
tinued without interruption until the present day. The history
of the St. Lawrences, ennobled for countless generations as Lords
of Howth, is indeed one of which any family might be proud, and
shows a loyalty to the home adopted by them in distant ages
such as has been seldom, if ever, surpassed. When the State has
called upon them they have been always ready to render assist-
ance in the field of battle or in the council chamber, and their
services have won for them high distinction ; but it seems as if
they had been moved by a sense of duty rather than by ambition,.

' Amongst other names of hills there are found — Barren, Dun, Middle, and Signal
Hill.

^ The other two streams are called Bloody Stream, and Whitewater Brook. There
are eight wells known as Balsaggart, Barrenhill, Bawn, Black Jack's, Juan's, Priest's,
St. Fintan's, and Tunnel Well. Two petrifying wells are mentioned by Rutty
(" Mineral Waters of Ireland," p. 3.51), one under the churchyard, the other, ''the
Howth dropping well," on the east side of the peninsula.

' Amongst other names of natural objects are found — Black Heath, Call Hole,
Cross Garvey, Flat Hocks, Fox Hole, Gaskin's Leap, Green Ivj-, Highrooni Bed,
Hippy Hole, Lion's Head, Mudoak Rock, Piper's Gut, Puck's Rock, Red Rock,
Sheep Hole, the Stag, Webb's Castle Rock, and Worm Hole. See Jour. Roy. Soc.
Ant., Irel., xxiii, 445-54.

* The other names are— Rowan Rocks, Samphire Hole, Seal's Cave, the Stags and
the Steer.

INTEODUCTION. 5

and as if, when their work was done, they had hastened back to
their peninsula, esteeming it, like the woman of old, the highest
privilege to be permitted to live amongst their own people.

The story of the St. Lawrences describes the founder of their
house as a man of almost superhuman achievement in martial
enterprise, whose banner was a sure token of victory to his friends
and of defeat to his enemies. A likelihood of much knightly
valour in the early generations of the family finds support in the
fact that two swords are prominent in the St. Lawrence arms, and
that a great two-handed one, which has belonged to the family
from time immemorial, is one of the most prized possessions in
their ancestral home ;^ and the position which the founder of the

The Sword of Howth.

house and his more immediate descendants occupied in Ireland
points to his having had behind him traditions. According to the
St. Lawrence story he was a brother-in-law of the renowned
Anglo-Norman conqueror of Ulster, John de Courcy, and joined
that illustrious man, as a consequence of vows made in the church
of Rouen, in many campaigns abroad and at home. A halo of
romance is thrown round his head by attributing to him originally
the name of Tristram, and by seeking to establish a connexion
between him and the hero of the Arthurian legend, and the
adoption of the patronymic borne by his descendants is explained
by the suggestion that the conquest of Howth was granted to him

1 It is mentioned in *' An Historical Essay on the Dress of the Irish," by J. C.
Walker, Dublin, 1788, p. 116, as " a two-handed sword, wielded with great success
by a baron of Howth." In Lodge's "Peerage," iii, 180, it is claimed to be the
sword used by the founder of the house of St. Lawrence. But of. James Drummond's
"Ancient Scottish Weapons."

6 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

on the feast of St. Lawrence.' But of his origin and career prior
to his arrival in Ireland nothing can be said with certainty.

During the eighteenth century much error crept into the
St. Lawrence pedigree, and in the earlier generations a number of
mythical owners of Howtli were introduced. But a note made by
the learned Archbishop Alen in the early part of the sixteenth
century shows that the succession accepted in his day was nearly
the same as that obtained from contemporary sources. His note
reads as follows : —

Genealogia de Sanguine Dominorum de Houth a Con-
questu — Nicholas 3 =^ et Almaritius 2 ^ ac Adam 2 '^ etiam
Christopher 2 ^ cum Stephano, Eoberto, Edwardo, quoque
modo heres apparens, quorum ordo successionis talis est
N. A. A. A. A. N. S. C. R. N. C. et E. hodie 1533.-
As the succeeding pages will show, the succession is now
established to have been : —

Lords of Houih.^

circa 1180 Almeric. 1526-1542 Christopher.

circa 1187 Nicholas. 1542-1549 Edward.

circa 1200 Almeric. 1549-1558 Richard.

circa 1250 Henry. 1558-1589 Christopher.

circa 1270 Nicholas. 1589-1607 Nicholas.

1290-1325 Adam. 1607-1619. Christopher.

1325-1334 Adam. 1619-1644 Nicholas.

1334-1404 Nicholas. 1644-1649 Thomas.

1404-1435 Stephen. 1649-1671 William.

1435-1462 Christopher. 1671-1727 Thomas.

1462-1486 Robert. 1727-1748 William.
1486-1526 Nicholas.

' It has been also stated that the change of name was made after a battle at
Clontarf by a member of the house who commanded an army in it, and had made
vows to the Saint that if successful he would assume the Saint's name. Lodge's
"Peerage," iii, 180.

■ Alen'B " Liber Niger," Trinity College copy, f. 662, «. d.

' In a note Lodge ("Peerage," iii, 180) mentions that it was formerly asserted
that the owners of Howth had possessed their estate without diminution or increase
from the earliest time, that they had never suffered an attainder, and that the estate
and title had never descended to a minor or second son. But the last claim cannot be
sustained.

GATEWAY TOWER

KEEP (UPPER FLOOR)

INTEODUCTIOK 7

Earls of Howth.

1748-1801 Thomas. 1822-1874 Thomas.

1801-1822 William. 1874-1909 William.

The seat of the St. Lawrences, known as Howth Castle, has
stood on its present site, not far from the isthmus on the northern
shore of the peninsula, for seven hundred years. It comprises a
great mass of buildings, and contains structures of various periods.
It is approached from the east through a courtyard, on the north
side of which lies an ancient gateway and the stable-yard, and on
the south a wing containing a chapel and various apartments. The
front shows an elevation of two stories over the ground-floor, and
a lofty flight of steps leads to the hall, which is on the first floor.
To the north of the hall is the dining-room, and to the south the
billiard-room. In a wins' extending to the south-west lie the
drawing-room, library, and other reception-rooms.'

At first search is made in vain for any sign of an early origin.
" Nothing but modern-looking turrets, rough-cast and white-
washed," says the President of the Eoyal Society of Antiquaries of
Ireland,* " are to be seen through the thick mantle of ivy with
which the Castle is covered, and it is only on close examination
that in the . south-west corner of the Castle, to the left of the
entrance, the keep or chief tower of the ancient fortress is revealed.
At the north-west angle of the keep, in a small turret, the original
staircase is found, and in the north-east angle in a corresponding
turret, which was vaulted throughout its stories, curious rude
corbelling is visible. The stairs were composed of rude stone steps,
without any newel or stone-cutting such as occurs even in small
peel towers in the west of Ireland, but a neat pointed doorway
leads into the upper story of the Castle. Six steps higher there
is one of the original window-slits, now built up, and ten steps
more lead to the summit of the keep. Excepting in the case of
the south-west turret, which is apparently of eighteenth-century

1 The library, which is in a tower at the end of the wing, was designed for the
present owner of the castle by Mr. E. L. Lutyens, under whose direction extensive
alterations and additions have been made. See "Houses and Gardens by E. L.
Lutyens," described by Lawrence Weaver, p. 272.

2 Mr. T. J. Westropp, m.a.

8 HOWTH AND ITS OWXEKS.

date, the original crenellated battlements and slab-gutters are
retained. The north-west or staircase turret has a small, straight
Might of steps leading from the main stairs to the top, wliich
affords a fine view, over the Castle gardens and park, of the sea
and Ireland'.s Eye. This turret is seven feet eight inches north
and south, and six feet ten inches east and west, while the main
tower is twenty-three feet four inches long from this turret to the
south wall along the battlement. The chimneys, which rest on
corbels far down the face of the walls and block up the battle-
ments, are plain, and a window of oblong shape which has been
built up, was without ornament.

" A gateway tower, which lies to the north-east of the Castle
and is now unused, is also of the mediaeval time. It consists of a
gloomy round-vaulted passage, eleven feet eight inches wide, and
over twenty-seven feet deep, with two little guard-rooms only
lighted by slits, which splay inwards and outwards, and by small
doorways. Over the vault, the side wall of which is five feet eight
inches thick, there are two stories. The windows in them have
been probably renewed, but a turret at the north-east corner and
the battlements are possibly of the same date as the main portion
of the gateway."'

Beyond the gateway tower, farther to the north-east, the Castle
gardens slope down to the sea. They were laid out more than two
hundred years ago, and are intersected by beech hedges, which are
remarkable not only for the size to which they have grown, but
also for the radiating plan which was adopted in planting them,
A summer-house forms the centre, and alleys through the hedges
afford marine vistas of great beauty. The hedges have been kept
closely clipped, and the effect of the vistas is increased by their
being seen through " walls of gleaming leaves, tender green in
spring, deep green in high summer, and glorious sheen of copper
at the fall of the year."^

' Cf. " Archaeologia," xixviii, 173.

• .See " Howth Castle," by Lawrence "Weaver, in " Country Life " for July 1, 1916.

( 9 )
CHAPTER II.

IN EARLY TIMES.

The size of the cromlech which lies within the demesne of
Howfch, and the absence of megalithic monuments from the rest
of the northern part of the county of Dublin, go far to prove
that in the most remote past the peninsula was recognized as a
place of extraordinary importance. It is estimated that the roof-
rock of this cromlech weighs no less than seventy tons. This
weight is a third more than that of the roof-rock of the great
cromlech near Rathfarnham, at Mount Venus,^ which of the
cromlechs in the county of Dublin is the specimen most nearly
approaching the dimensions of the Howth one ; and it is only
exceeded in the case of the roof-rocks of two other cromlechs in
the whole of Ireland.^

But the annals and legends of Ireland leave no doubt that from
the beginning of things human the peninsula has been one of the
well-known places of Ireland. Under the name Benn Etar, or the
peak of Etar, the peninsula comes into notice with the commence-
ment of the history of Ireland, and is a landmark in the dimness
that surrounds the advent of the earliest colonists. At a period
which approximates to the time of the Flood, the Grecian parri-
cide, Partholon, is said to have settled on the plain of Etar, and
there the great multitude of his followers, who according to
tradition were buried at Tallaght,^ are supposed to have perished.*
By one legend the origin of the name is attributed to the time of
the Firbolgs, the successors of the Partholonians, and is said

1 See " History of County Dublin," iii, 49.

2 See Borlase's " Dolmens of Ireland," ii, 376, and Journal, R.S.A.I., ii, 40. To
the sketch of this monument, made in 1775, Gabriel Beranger appends the following
note : — " The cromlech at Howth called by the country people ' Fan ]\IcCool's quoit,'
had six supporters, off which it was thrown down by some violent shock ; it is com-
posed of grit of a peculiar kind, in the grain of which are seen large pieces of marble
and various coloured stones .... Its situation is in a field at the foot of a rocky
mountain at the back of Lord Howth's improvements." (Gabriel Beranger's Sketch
Book in the possession of the Royal Irish Academy.)

3 See " History of County Dublin," iii, 3.

* Irish Texts Society's Publications, iv, 163.

10 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

to have been connected with the wife ot one of the five chieftains,
under whose conduct the Firbolgs came from Greece :

Five wives they brought hither,

The five sons of Dehi without stain,

The fiflli t'anious woman was

Etar, the splendid and stately ;

'Twas she died here, first of all

Before the wife of any King, 'tis well known,

Of prief for long-limbed radiant Gand,

In Benn Etar suddenly.'

But according^ to another lesjend the name Benn Etar is
derived from a chieftain of later times, Etar the son of Etgaeth.
He was a great warrior, known as far as " the shores of Alba,"
and is said to have possessed " in wealth and plenty " the penin-
sula on whose summit he found his last resting-place. At the
time of his death Etar had to wife a lady " tierce as to prowess of
spears," called Mairg, from whom the Slieve Margy hills are said
to have derived their name ; but an alliance with the radiant
Aine, daughter of Manannan, and one with a lady called Bethi,
are also ascribed to him. The name of the last lady is said to
have been borne as well by a daughter of Mairg by a former
marriage ; and this Bethi is said to have given her hand to a son
of Etar by a former marriage, Aes by name, and to have perished
with her husband tragically in the pool of the Liftey.-

At the commencement of the Milesian settlement, which is
approximated to the time of Moses, the erection of a fortress upon
the peninsula is recorded liy the Four Masters. It was similar
to one then placed upon Dalkey Island,' and its erection above
" the great waved sea " is attributed to a chieftain called Suirge :

Dun Sobairce* was afterwards erected,
By brave Sobairce of the wliite side ;
Deilinis hy Segda with clieerfulness :
Dun Etar by Suirge, the slender.^

1 Gwynn's "Metrical Dindshenchas," iii, 113 ; cf. "Revue Celtique," xv, 330;
"Folk Lore," iv, 495.

-Gwynn's "Metrical Dindshenchas," iii, 105, 115, 161, 496; cf. "Revue
Celtique," xv, 330; O'Flaherty's " Ogygia," 1685, p. 271; "Trans. Ossianic
Society," i, 74, n. 3.

» See " History of County Dublin," i, 79.

* Dunseverick in Antrim.

'■> " Trans. Ossianic Society," v, 277 ; cf. Four Masters, a.m. 3501, Book of Lecan,
p. 01.

IN EAELY TIMES. 11

Coming down after a lapse of many centuries to the begin-
ning of the Christian era, Benn Etar appears as the abode of a
monarch of Ireland called Crimthann, or Criffan, as the name is
pronounced. His fame lingers more in fable than in fact, and is
preserved chiefly in connexion with an expedition made by him
across the seas, about which marvellous things are told. On this
expedition he is said to have been accompanied by a female sprite,
whose care for his welfare earned him the appellation of " Nair's
champion," and from it to have brought back spoils of precious
metal sparkling with gems. But there is doubtless some basis of
reality in the tale, and the golden chariot and chess-board, and
all-conquering sword and spear, may be taken as symbolical of
Crimthann's wealth and authority, and indicative of the prosperity
and importance of Benn Etar in his time. There, as tradition has
it, his bones lie buried in a valley between Shel martin and the
Dun Hill, and cairns on those hills, the one on Shelmartin being
represented now by a modern pile of stones, have been connected
with his memory.'

By the Ordnance Survey the fortified headland at the eastern
extremity of the peninsula, where the Baily Lighthouse stands,
has been marked with his name, and its remains deserve more
attention than they have hitherto received. "As was usual in
forts of the kind," says the President of the Koyal Society of
Antiquaries of Ireland,- "the builders selected a position where
natural features contribute to the defence. They found two deep
gullies across a long headland, with a pyramidal rock at the end,
and strengthened this natural fortification by fencing the gullies
on their seaward faces with earthworks. On the outer gully the
earthworks have been greatly defaced by modern roads, fences,
and walls ; but along the more northern portion of the gully there
still exist two lines of mounds, each over twenty feet in width,
with an intervening fosse about fifteen feet in width, which are
dimensions that constantly recur in the fortified headlands on the
south and west coasts of Ireland. A road connecting with the

1 Four Masters, a.d. 9 ; Gwynn's '' Dindshenchas," lii, 121.

2 Mr. T. J. Westropp, m.a.

HOWTH AND ITS OWXEPuS.

main road l(> the lighthouse lias been cut through these earth-
works, and on the southern side of the main road a single
rampart only remains. It has been nearly removed, but sufficient
exists to show that it rdn in a curve across the back at the top of
the slope inside the mounds and fosse. The outer ward, which,
so far as can be seen, contains no middens or undoubtedly early
earthworks, is at its northern side over seven hundred and fifty
feet across : but it is irregular. On the inner gully remains of a
rampart which seems to have been single are still to be found.

THE BAILEY FCaT. HOWTH

C MODERN BUILDINGS OMITTED)

Some portions are five or six feet in height, and twenty-seven
feet in thickness ; but along the steeper part and the northern
cliff the entrenchment was slight. Indeed, at the latter place it
might be considered a late fence only for a midden of limpet
and periwinkle shells, which are evidently of great age, in the
embankment at the head of a path leading down to an old
quarry. The inner ward, which measures seven hundred and
ninety feet, extends from the hollow to the Lighthouse, and on
the rock now occupied by that trium])!! of modern engineering

IN EAELY TIMES. 1

skill, where a midden similar to the one just mentioned
was found, stood the citadel or keep of the ancient fort. In the
county of Waterford, at Dane's Island and Island Hubbock, and
in the county of Clare, at Bishop's Island, there were similar
entrenchments on the land, with nearly detached rock citadels,
smaller in size, but more impressive from their greater height."

But with regard to the position on the peninsula of Crimthann's
dwelling there can be no certainty. As his dun is said to have
been visible from the county of Meath/ its site seems more
probably to have been on the northern than on the eastern side.
To a height on the northern side, over the harbour, on which part of
the town of Howth has been built, the place-name Dunbo, or the
fort of the cow, has been attached, thus identifying it as the scene
of an ancient historic tale called the " Siege of Etar." This tale,
which is one of the compositions of the cycle of the Red Branch
Knights, is contemporaneous with Crimthann's period. The dun
mentioned in it was large enough to contain seven hundred cows as
well as the defenders, and strong enough to resist for many days
the attacks of an armed host. The besieged were Ulstermen, to-
whom the tale attributes the erection of the dun, and they are
said to have been forced to take refuge on Benn Etar through the
exactions of a fellow-countryman called Athairne the Importunate,
from whose use of hurdles to bring his prey across the Liffey
Dublin is said to owe its original name, Athcliath. The tale
dwells at length on the outrages committed by Athairne, who was
a poet, but, in the character attributed to him, greatly belied his
calling, and it gives little information about the events at Benn
Etar. Amongst the few incidents mentioned as taking place
there are that the Red Branch hero Cuchulain defended with
spears a gap, which he disdained to fence, and that his foster-son,who-
was only overcome by three hundred heroes, guarded the entrance
to the dun.^ While excavations were being made forty years ago-
on the supposed site of Athairne's dun, a cist and various traces of
burials were found, and in connexion with these discoveries it.

1 Westropp's "Ancient Forts of Ireland," Trans. R.I.A., xxxi, 593; Proc. xxiv,
c. 274.

'^ "fievue Celtique," viii, 47; O'Curry's "Lectures on Irish History," p. 266;
"Trans. Ossianic Society," v, 170. In the eighteenth century it was believed that.

14 HOWTH AXD ITS OWNERS.

was mentioned that the site had been originally surrounded on
three sides by the sea,'

The next person mentioned in connexion with the peninsula is
the hero of the Fenian cycle of Irish literature, Finn MacCumhaill,
who flourished in the third century. While sitting in the east,
" over the sea at the hill of Etar," he is said to have seen a vision
of the future invasion of Ireland, and the peninsula is represented
as a resort of his followers, who set out from it to the disastrous
battle of Gabhra, and as one of the places to which Finn
MacCumhaill assigned a special guard under the command of
some of his captains. There also his affianced bride, Grainne, is
said to have sought refuge with her lover, Diarmuid, in a cave,
which has been identified as one of those near Drumleck Point,
and his grandson, Oscar, found a wife in Aideen, daughter of
Angus of Benn Etar. In the apocryphal tales of that period
there are also frequent references to the peninsula, and there is
indication that it was then a noted port and hunting-ground in
stories which tell of a proud fleet, from which a giantess landed
on the peninsula, and of a great chase, in wliich a son of the
King of Britain joined on the hill. With the Fenian period local
tradition loves to connect the great cromlech. According to one
legend it was a quoit thrown by Finn MacCumhaill from the
Bog of Allen, and according to another it was raised to mark
the resting-place of Aideen, who died of grief for the loss of her
husband, Oscar, in the battle of Gabhra' : —

Imperfect in an alien speech,

"When, wandering here, some child of chance

Throiigli pangs of keen delight shall reach
'I'lie gift of utterance,

Howth had been a seat of Druidical worship, the Mona of Ireland, and that Athairne
belonged to a college of their bards :

In early times for solitude so famed,

That here our bards their soft asylum chose,

"Whose song divine the savage soul reclaimed,
And martial manners soothed to sweet repose.

(" Howth, a Descriptive Poem," by Abraham Bosquet : Dull., 1787.)
Cf. Thomas Milton's "Views of Irish Seats," Dubl., 1786.

iProc. R.I.A., X, 331.

2 O'Curry's "Lectures on Irish History," passim; "Book of Howth," p. 7;
"Trans. Ossianic Society," i, 74 ; iv, 84 ; vi, 88 ; Journal E.S.A.I., xxiii, 451.

m EARLY TIMES. 15

To speak the air, the sky to speak,

The freshness of the hill to tell ;
Who roaming bare Benn Etar's peak

And Aideen's briary dell,
And gazing on the cromlech vast

And on the mountain and the sea,
Shiill catch communion with the past,

And mix himself witli me.i

By Ptolemy, who has shown it on his map as an island, the
peninsula is called Edrou Heremos, or the desert of Edros ;2 but
it is said by Camden* to have been at one time covered with oaks,
although it was in his time bare of trees. Camden's view is also
taken in two Irish quatrains which have been thus translated :—

Hill that beyond every tulach is verdant-surfaced,

"Whose summit is green-treed and tremulous ;
Eminence famed for sword-blades, forest-clad, gentian-growing ;

A hill variegated, having jutting points and flowing mane ;
Hill the most beautiful that dominates Ireland's coast-line ;

Sweetly melodious there is the gull over the sea ;
To us the leaving of it is an act of pain.

Lovely and pleasurable hill of Etar.*

Further support is given to the opinion that the peninsula
was less bare in early times than now in verses which are said to
have been written by three bards who chose the scenery of Howth
as the subject of a competition for supremacy. These verses have
been thus translated : —

Delightful it is to be at Benn Etar,

Truly melodious it is to be upon its \\ hite fortress,
A hill ample, shipful, populous,

A peak in wine, in cairns, in feasts abounding ;
A bill on which Fionn and the Fianna used to meet,

A hill where horns and cups overflow,
A hill to which O'Duibhne, the dauntless,

Brought Grainne from her close pursuers ;
A wave-green hill surpassing each tulach.

And its green- tree tapering summit ;
A hill of cairns, wild garlic and fruit-trees ;

A variegated, pinnacled, woody hill;
The loveliest hill in Erin's isle,

A hill brighter than the gull on the shore.
To part is sore grief to me.

The delightful, pleasant Benn Etar.

1 " The Cromlech on Howth," by Sir Samuel Ferguson, Dublin, 1861.

- JournalR.S.A.I.,xxiv, 128; Joyce's " Irish Names of Places " (ed. 1870), p. 104.

' "Britannia," ed. Richard Gough, iii, 658.

* O'Grady's Catalogue of Irish MSS. in British Museum, p. 524.

16 HOWTH AND ITS OWXEES.

II.

Oft beneath the giassj' hill are seen

Champions and sails ^vitLout debility,
Till the gunwales of their keelins^ ships are level

With the deathful waves which dash against the tall cliffs.
Beautiful its j)lain8 and tall i)eaks.

And its lands overhanging the stormy waves,
Till it reaches the cairn of the gentle Fionn

From the delightful mansion of lofty Etar.

III.

A hill exceeding in height all tulachs,

Each peak eoually green and steep ;
A hill covered with herbs and plants,

A steep hill covered with woods and wild garlic.
There are seen from the top of its peaks

Ships laden and heroes falling ;
A plank is driven through the ship's side

By tlie violence of her dash against the tall cliffs ;
Woe it is the bonds that are broken

By the fierce might of thy visit,
And that a wave bursts with a heaving crash

A rib in the overladen vessel.^

Soon after the dawn of Christianity in Ireland heralds of
God's love established themselves on the peninsula and its island.
They were induced to do so, as in many other places similarly
circumstanced, by the hope that isolation would secure for them
safety ; but their dream was before long dispelled, and their
proximity to the sea was found to be a source of danger rather
than of protection. With the island three holy men, DichuU,
Munissa, and Neslug, are identified. They were the sons of one
Nessan, who traced descent from Cathair Mor, King of Ireland,
and from them the island hitherto called Inisfaithleen, or the
grassy or elder island, and Inisereann, or Eria's island, became
known as Inis-meic-Nessan, or the island of the Sons of Nessan.
They are said to have been disciples of a saint famous in the Celtic
Church, St. Maidoc of Ferns, and by him Dichull was placed in
charge of the monastery of Clonmore.*

In the martyrologies the sons of Nessan are recorded to have
been men of exceptional piety and love of peace. " They loved

' " Trans. Ossianic Society," vi, 89.

' O'Hanlon's "Lives of Irish Saints," iii, 373; and authorities cited by him;,
also "llevue Celtique," xvi, 60.

IN EARLY TIMES. 17

soft prayer to Christ, did the sons of Nessan from the isle,"
says the Martyrology of Oengus, and "against every miserable
slaughterous conflict be Nessan's three saintly sons," says the
Martyrology of Gorman. During the seventh century, in which
they are believed to have flourished, there was much warfare to
depress them, and in the middle of that century a battle raged on
Howth, round Crimthaun's stronghold. It was between Conall
and Ceallach, the sons of Maelcobha, and Aenghus, son of Domhnall.
Conall and Ceallach, who were descendants in the northern line of
Niall of the Nine Hostages, were then joint kings of Ireland, and
Aenghus was a rival for the throne. The result was a victory for
the kings, and not only was Aenghus killed, but also Cathasach,
son of Domhnall Breac, who is believed to have been a relation
of Aenj^hus, and next in succession to him.^

Fifty years later the navigators of a British fleet are said to
have taken refuge during a storm on the island home of the sons
of Nessan, and during their detention there to have slain the king
of a neighbouring territory. As an ancient legend tells us, " This
Irgalach (for so the king was named) was slain, after having in
the night before he was killed himself seen the manner of his
death. On the morrow of this vision, therefore, Irgalach came
forth, and, standing upon a high rock, heard a loud voice cry,
" Spread yourselves over the country round about, and burn and
scorch and harry it." Then he saw great bands and companies
that spoiled the land, and he came and stood abreast of
Innis-meic-Nessan, where at that self-same hour a British fleet
was by a great tempest constrained to refuge. Of which Britons
a certain warrior likewise had in the past night a dream : as it
were a herd of wild boars that grunted about him, and the largest
boar he had killed with a javelin-stroke. A presage verified
exactly, for that boar signified Irgalach, and the rest of the herd
his retinue of sinners ; and with a single javelin-cast Irgalach
there and then was destroyed by that warrior."^ In the later part

1 Four Masters, under G'le ; cf. " Chronicum Scotorum," p. 91.
- 0' Grady's " Silva Gadelica," Trans, and Notes, p. 443; Adamnan's "Life of
St. Columba," ed. Wni. Reeves, p. liii, and authorities cited by them.

HOWTH AND ITS OWNEliS.

of the last century a cist containing human remains was discovered
on Ireland's Eye, and it was suggested that these might have been
the remains of Irgalach. It was argued that, although indicating
a Christian mode of burial, the circumstances of the interment
tended to prove that the body was not that of a cleric, and that a
piece of iron, which was found in the grave, and which was thought
to resemble part of a sword, pointed to the body having been that
of a warrior. >

Ruins ox Ireland's Eyk hefoke Eestoration.

The only church on Ireland's Eye of which anything is known
cannot have been the oratory of the sons of Nessan, and has been
assigned to so late a date as the twelfth century. It consisted of
a nave and chancel, with an arch and a round-headed doorway,
and was unique in its design, inasmuch as over its chancel, which
was vaulted, there rose a small round tower. Its ruins existed
on Ireland's Eye in the early part of the last century, and an
attempted reproduction now occupies their site. According to a
ground-plan in Lord Dunraven's " Notes on Irish Architecture,"'^
the nave and chancel were rectangular buildings, the nave being

1 Proc. R.I.A., X, 332.

- Ed. Margaret Stokes, i, 68.

m EARLY TIMES. 19

thirty-four feet long externally by ten feet three inches wide
internally, with walls two feet eight inches thick, and the
chancel was eleven feet long by thirteen feet three inches wide
externally. The doorway, which was in the western end, is shown
to have been three feet wide, and in the north and south walls of
the nave a window-slit is marked, and also in the east and north
walls of the chancel. As the late Dr. Cochrane, one of the
esteemed Presidents of the Royal Society of Antiquaries, and
Inspector of Ancient Monuments in Ireland, has mentioned in a
learned paper on the " Ecclesiastical Antiquities of Howth,"^ in the
reproduction of the ruins the nave and chancel deviate from
the rectangular, and are of smaller dimensions than those of
Lord Dunraven's plan.

With Ireland's Eye and the father of its saints there has been
associated a seventh-century copy of the Gospels. This manuscript,
which is illuminated, is preserved among the treasures in the
Library of Trinity College, Dublin, and came to that Library
through Archbishop Ussher.^ It has been recorded by Archbishop
Alen that the manuscript was held in such veneration that men
scarcely dared to take an oath on it, the common belief being that
God's vengeance had fallen upon those who had sworn falsely upon
it ; and in connexion with it a curious legend has been preserved
by the same authority to the effect that on being tempted by an
evil spirit Nessan pursued his assailant over the sea and ordered
him to enter the northern cliffs of Howth, where his most horrid
image remains affixed in stony form on Puck's Rock.'

About the same period that the sons of Nessan settled upon
Ireland's Eye, a holy man called Fintan established himself on
the southern side of the peninsula of Howth. As Dr. Cochrane
remarks in the paper to which reference has been made, it is
impossible owing to the number of saints called Fintan to identify
with certainty the particular one whom Howth claims as its
patron. His monument survives, however, in a ruined church on
the southern side of the peninsula at the base of Shelmartin. This

1 Journal E.S.A.I., xxiii, 396. - Ibid., p. 404.

2 The passage is printed in Warburton, Whitelaw, and Walsh's " History of
Dublin," ii, 1266, but cf. Liber Niger A' 73, A- 192.

C 2

20 HOWTH AND ITS OWXEES.

church is a simple oblong building, with a belfry rising over the
gable of its western wall. It deviates from the rectangular,
measuring internally on the north sixteen feet six inches, on the
south sixteen feet eight inches, on the east seven feet seven inches,
and on the west eight feet one inch. In the opinion of
Dr. Cochrane it is of late date, and comprises the remains of a
primitive oratory and of a mediaeval church of larger dimensions.
Amongst the details Dr. Cochrane describes the east window,
which has a semi-circular head and is grooved for glass ; windows
in the north and south walls near the north-west and south-east
angles ; the doorway, which is in the western end and has a
pointed arch ; a recess in the north wall and two recesses in the
south wall, which are constructed of stones cut for other pur-
poses ; and a small circular window, which is made out of a
solid block, and has four short arms grooved, over the doorway.
He suggests that there may have been originally a group of
churches on the site, and draws attention to the disproportion of
the belfry to the rest of the building as indication of more
enthusiasm than discretion on the part of its designer.^ Besides
this church some of the Howth place-names denote a connexion
with early Cliristian worship. The site of a cairn in the eastern
part of the peninsula, on what is known as the Black Heath, bears
the name of the Cross, ancj was formerly known as St. Patrick's
Cross ; and a field in the southern part of the demesne, in which
remains of an ancient settlement have been found, bears the name
of Cross Garvey (i.e. the rough cross).^

The invasions of the Norsemen began in the closing decade of
the eighth century, and fell with exceptional severity on the Dublin
coast. At first the islands suffered most, and it is not until more
than twenty years had elapsed that a descent on Howth is
recorded. It was evidently a notable one, and denoted a new
departure. Hitherto the raids had been directed mainly
against property, but now human beings were the spoil, and a
world of misery is revealed in the laconic entry of the Four

'Journal U.S.A. I., xxiii, 3S6 ; cf. Archdeacon Walsh's " Fingal and its
Churches," and *' Dublin Saturday Magazine," ii, 49.
- Journal U.S. A. I., xiii, 30G ; Proc. R.I. A. x, 330.

IN EAELY TIMES. 21

"Masters under the year 819 : — " The plundering of Etar by the
foreigners, who carried off a great prey of women." The Irish
.appear to have retained a hold on the peninsula after the
Norsemen had established themselves in Dublin. In 866 a prince
of a territory north of Dublin, known as Bregia, Elann son of
Conaing, is called by the Four Masters " the great King of Etar,"
and in 891 the heir apparent to that princedom, Cinaedh son of
Flannagan is said to have died on the peninsula at Carrickbrac.^
But the disuse of the Irish " Etar " as the name of the peninsula,
and substitution of the Danish " Hoved," show that the peninsula
must have become one of the Norsemen's chief seaports, and in 897
it is recorded that Danes from Dublin were besieged on Ireland's
Eye, when flying to Scotland.'' As the Danish section of the
'invaders gained a footing in the adjoining parish of Baldoyle, it
^may be assumed that Howth saw something of the conflict between
them and the Norwegian section, and in the tenth century Howth
^was the scene of a struggle for the sovereign power in Dublin, in
-which Amlaib, " the hundred-strong," gained the victory. In the
:same century, in the year 960, his son is "said to have descended
mpon the peninsula by sea with the help of a captain called
-Lagmann for the purpose of plunder.^ But indications of actual
■ occupation of the peninsula by the Norsemen are not wanting.
Too much significance, perhaps, ought not to be attached to the
.fact that ancient remains on Carrickbrac are known as the Danish
.fort, but the names of several families connected with the pen-
. insula bespeak a descent from the Northern invaders. More
particularly is this the case in regard to a family called Harford,
-whose members are still found there in considerable numbers.
They exhibit a character worthy of their forbears, and are distin-
guished as a race by their tall stature, fair complexion, and bright
blue eyes.''

1 Four Masters, passim ; cf. " Annals of Ulster.

2 Todd's " W;ir of the Gaedhil with the Gaill," p. Ixxxiii ; cf. Annals of the
-Four Masters and of Ulster.

3 Gwynn's "Metrical Dindshenchas," i, 52, and Four Masters under 960; cf.
Todd's "War of the Gaedhil," xev, n. 1.

■* The other names which have been suggested as denoting descent from the
Norsemen are Thunder, Waldron, and Rickard.

HOWTH AND ITS OWNEES.

Not long before 1014, the year of the memorable battle of
Clontarf, King Malachy invaded the territory of the Norsemen,
and burned the country as far as Howth. At Howth he is said
to have encountered their force, and to have gained the victory ;.
but on his return from this expedition he was defeated by them
at Drinan, near Swords.' Although the actual conflict did not
extend so far, much of the horror of the deadly battle of Clontarf
reached Howth. The northern pirates had left there their boats,
and after the battle the peninsula was a place of refuge for the
fugitives.'^ In spite of this defeat, it was not until the middle of
that century that the soverei„aity of the Norsemen was finally
broken in Fingal. No sooner had it ended than war broke out
among the Irish themselves, and the men of Leinster encoun-
tered the men of Munster at Howth. Under the year 1087 the
Four Masters^ thus record the result of the battle : — " The battle
of Rath-Etar between the men of Leinster and Munster, where
Muircheartach Ua Briain and the men of Munster defeated the
Leinstermen, and Domhnall son of Maelnambo and Diarmaid
Ua Briain and Enda son of Diarmaid, and where a great slaughter
was made of the Leinstermen together with the son of Murchadh
Ua Domhnaill, Lord of Ui Drona, and Conall Ua Ciarmhaic, and
Ua Neill of Maghda(ihon."

1 Four Masters under 1012; cf. Lebhar Gabhala, R.I.A.MS., p. 224.

* Todd, op. cit., pp. clxxii, 156.

* Cf . Orpen's " Ireland under the Normans," i, 207.

Device ox Tomh.

A A

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THE C'K'OMLKCH

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Till-: snt: of vna early castle

( 23 )

CHAPTER III.

THE MIDDLE AGES.

It was under the Anglo-Norman settlement that the founder of
the house of St. Lawrence entered into possession of Howth, He
bore as his Christian name the remarkable one of Almeric/ and,
as has been already suggested, he had probably inherited or earned
distinction before he saw the shores of Ireland.^ His title to
Howth was no sub-infeudation, but a direct grant from the Crown,
and his associates were men of the first rank. With John de
Courcy, the conqueror of Ulster, either through relationship or
association in arms, he was undoubtedly closely allied. About
the time that he was appointed chief governor of Ireland, that
notable invader selected Almeric to act as a witness of a deed, in
company with the Archbishop of Dublin and other clerics and lay-
men of high degree f and during the conquest of Ulster he con-
firmed a grant of lands in the county of Down made by Almeric
to the Abbey of Downpatrick,*

The story of the family to which reference has been made is
drawn principally from the Book of Howth, a sixteenth-century
compilation of annals, historical tales, and legends, which is
preserved in the Lambeth Library, and has been printed in the

' Miss Yonge says ("Hist, of Christian Names," ed. 1884, pp. xxiii, 331) that
"Almeric " is equivalent to the Italian " Almerigo," the name from which "America"
is derived.

- It has been stated (Journal U.S. A. I., xxxvii, 349) that the St. Lawrences
derived their name from a place called St. Laurent in Normandy, but no authority
for the statement is given. The surname of St. Lawrence seems to have been at
that period not uncommon in France and also in England (uf. D'Alton's "Hist, of
Co. Dublin," p. 156; "Genealogist," N.S., xvii, 27; "Topographer and Genea-
logist," iii, 178). The English St. Lawrences, who were originally resident in
Hampshire, appear to have had connexion with Ireland. In 1173 one of them
claimed corody for the son of the King of Cork for one night, and in 1179 Cecilia,
wife of Eobert de St. Lawrence, accounts for two marks of gold of her promise
touching Ireland. (Sweetmau's Calendar, 1171-1252, nos. 39, 55.)

^ Dr. Lawlor's Calendar of the Liber Niger of Christ Church, no. 9, and Christ
Church Deeds, no. 10.

* " Monasticon Anglicanum," vol. vi, pt. ii, p. 1125.

24 HOWTH AND ITS OWXEES.

Carew Series of State Papers, but doubt has been thrown on its
authority, owing to the compiler drawing inspiration from the
Arthurian legend, and stating that Almeric was promised by
John de Courcy half his conquests.^ So far as is known Almeric
possessed no land in Ulster, except what he gave to the Abbey of
Downpatrick, and Howth can hardly have been considered a com-
pensation for half of John de Courcy's conquests. It is also to be
observed that the compiler of the Book of Howth makes no
attempt to explain the substitution of the name St. Lawrence for
Tristram, the theory as to its connexion with the festival of
St. Lawrence having been derived apparently from some other
source. In the Book of Howth elaborate descriptions are given
of the five battles which Giraldus Cambrensis mentions' as fought
by John de Courcy in Ulster, and in each case the founder of the
house of Howth is placed in the forefront, accomplishing wonderful
deeds and uttering heroic speeches. It is said that John de
Courcy's forces disembarked on their arrival in Ireland at Howth,
and encountered there terrific resistance,^ and that a battle, which
Giraldus Cambrensis has described as fought at the bridge of
Newry, took place at the bridge of Howth. As John de Courcy
was unable from some cause or other to leave his ship, the com-
mand is represented as devolving on Almeric, who "stalworthy
and knightly did use himself." According to the, Book of Howth
he proved the victor in the battle, during which no less than seven
of his sons, uncles, and nephews were laid low, and, as " his part
of the conquest at the beginning " was given Howth, together
witli other property, which is not specified. By tradition the Irish
name of Newry, An lubhar, in the corrupted form Evora, has
been given to a bridge near the gate of the present castle, and the
rivulet which it crosses bears the name of the Bloody Stream,^ but

1 Dr. Round's "Peerage and I'edigree," ii, 273, and " Antiquary," vii, 196 ; viii,
21,116. - " Expugnatio Hibernica," ii, xvii.

' " Book of Howth," p. 92. Mr. Orpen (" Ireland under the Normans," ii, 16)
:'ay8 that the district about Howth must have been subdued long before de Courcy
landed.

* Near the bridge human bones, an anvil, and horse furniture were found at the
beginning of the nineteentfi century. See Warburton, Wbitelaw, and Walsh',-
" History of Dublin," ii, 1257 ; cf. R.I.A. Proc. x, 330.

THE MIDDLE AGES. 25

its size discredits the idea of its having been spanned by a bridge
at so early a period.

In the Book of Howth great exertions are attributed to Almeric
during John de Courcy's campaign in Ulster. On more than one
occasion he was severely wounded, and his mastery of strategy
enabled John de Courcy's small force to confront successfully a
force ten or fifteen times as great. In the words of his biographer/
" God and his enemies could report that amongst a thousand
knights Sir Almeric might be chosen for beauty, stout stomach-
head, and stalworthness, for he was stout and sturdy to his peer,
and humble and full of courtesy to his inferiors, and nothing
would yield but in the way of gentleness." Finally, his biographer
tells us* that Almeric met his death in Connaught while
encountering twenty thousand men under King O'Conor with
thirty horse and two hundred footmen. " They fought so that
never was seen in field that fought better than they did altogether.
There was none amongst those few that ever gave back one foot
from the captain unless it were braving lying with the dead,
and scarce then, if he had any memory of himself. There
Sir Almeric and his men at length altogether were slain in a
ground less than a stang in breadth ; . . . part of them being dead
and cold did stay themselves up upon their feet, standing with
their spears and two-handed swords in their hands, that much
did trouble their enemies in the fight to overthrow them that
dead were."

Notwithstanding a great slaughter of his sons, uncles, and
nephews, which is said to have taken place on his first landing in
Ireland, the founder of the house of Howth had, according to his
biographer, a phalanx of relations near him in all his subsequent
engagements.^ Amongst these, four receive special mention — a
son called Nicholas, " a brave and worthy knight," who survived
no less than nine wounds received in one battle ; and three
nephews : Lionel St. Lawrence, who was slain while displaying

1 " Book of Howth," p. 94. 2 Ibid., p. 107.

3 It is said ia the " Book of Howth," p. Ill, that two of his sons were killed when
John de Courcy was taken prisoner on a Good Friday in church, hut the story of
John de Courcy's capture has been pronounced to be devoid of authority.

26 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

extraordinary bravery in the defence of a pass ; Geoffrey
Montgomery, who bore his uncle's standard, and acted as his
mentor; and Roger le Poer, who is described as a great man in
Ossory.

In Abneric's time the castle of Howth did not occupy the
present site, but stood further to the east, nearer to the sea, on
land on which a martello tower now rests, at the head of the-
eastern pier of the modern harbour. That site guarded the best
natural refuges for shipping, and in the eighteenth century, when
the mound on which the early castle stood still remained, its
situation was thus described : —

A stately mole commands euch little port,

A rock its base, crowned with a conic mound ;
This a stronghold appears, or Danish fort,

Its counterscarp and rampart j-et are found.

As will be seen from the sketch, the remains of the mediaeval
church of Howth were close to the mound, and a stream, which
has disappeared, flowed between them : —

With mournful sound close by the hallowed walls,

A little cataract shoots forth its store ;
Clear of the rock its silver torrent falls.

And foaming glides its passage to the shore.

A rampart to the north sustained the fort,

Which overhung the sea, long since withdrawn ;

And there secured lay once the little port,
In time converted to a pleasant lawn.'

The castle in Almeric's time was, doubtless, of wood, like the
one depicted on the Bayeux tapestry, and depended for defence
on the fosse and banks by which it was surrounded. The mound
on which it stood is described in the title of the sketch'' as " a
cairn or burying-place of the pagan Irish kings and nobility " ;
and it is possible that Almeric may have found a tumulus and
raised his castle upon it, but the site is not favourable to that
theory.

' "Howth, a Descriptive Poem," by Abraham Bosquet, Dubl., 1T87.
- It is preserved in Gabriel Berangei 'a Sketch Book in the Iloyal Irish Academy,,
and is said to be from one by General Vallancey.

i*nL.8 VjH.nLl.^1 ■.^yuW)^^^ "Hor V.<UK«<r\l»cu:.W v,5„„ ^„q, .ui-.tf nrV Wm» WKiivrf^WWi lO.n .^^
^if«:*fi...W,„Un4laf quf vwin-jpmW niuilfbcfluaw >n^x,rn„mUn ^wraiftiWliimul^ifwO'^'-^J^'^p '

(lit Wait, ^iift^ I****"**! «ili;({mM5rij,niidii ydxi v^cWiuA,, r.,«-iTin^t( .*ifc VAu^'uxirH-f t'*^«w*-'^^ ^

»«m«irfftii^ir»cntrffni.ctirmr ditt .iicmj fn^tmnr enWitf .ifi«uVr ^VI^AnMi''-tf7'•:^^»»•"^• ^•"tc-njifW'te^e'' •

mtllI1^nart((fcJm{^lTfflMll^«lW<rlu.,*^^■litJllrVWA^K^nm

ijycin^^um>ihir^m*t)ti>ifjff(Urf.m.W^tt>tlir.rehiimtinit(ii«rVf^afi<r»(tnfMt^^

c>^il4>ud«i|(nn-ifenwieuitlruj^'riK>wmiii'bj5)iir^i}t>{fmunfjpti(u^m-rt^

* ititttK fiK uioucu {ntchtf ui4a lowltin ptftitmn liKnn -» qctU f j>i>cniu at eiiii oG miwc crJtftttf i^«nJniu Jb n*VUfiif*

*«5Mn utt W n»n Vii (Honr limiitw fiw miM .1> nJni nJittnitrS-MiiiiK^iW A^^

. niit «^n,i\t Nit Jtdt>^*^ltt'J5^

DEED CONXEKNING TFII'; flURCH

1 1 IK I 1235

THE MIDDLE AGES. 27

Nicholas, Lord of Howth, who escaped his father's fate through
being at the time in EngLand on " business to the king,"^ succeeded
on his father's death to Howth. His reign was, however, a short
one. His father was alive in 1186, and it was not more than a
year or two after that time that Nicholas executed a deed con-
firming Howth and its appurtenances to his son, who was called
after his grandfather, Almeric, So far as is known, this is the
last occasion on which Nicholas is mentioned. The deed con-
firming Howth to his son was witnessed by no less than nineteen
persons, including the Archbishop of Dublin, John de Courcy,
and members of the families then owning Castleknock, MuUingar,
Leixlip, Kinsaley, Clontarf, and Malahide.^ The only other
reference to Nicholas is as witness to a deed conveying land to
St. Thomas's Abbey in Dublin, and some confirmation of his
father's part in the Connaught expedition may be found in the
fact that the grantor had served in the army in that part of
Ireland, and gave the land to the abbey in pursuance of a vow
which he had made during a grievous distemper contracted
there.^

The last two witnesses to the deed by which Nicholas con-
firmed Howth to his son are Eichard de Castello and Eobert de
Cornewalsh or Corr-na-waleis, " the hill of the "Welshmen." The
former was, no doubt, the keeper of the primitive castle, and the
latter the head of a clan of Welshmen, who guarded the approach
to the peninsula from the mainland. As will be seen in the next
century, the lands near the isthmus were described as the town of

1 "Book of Howth," p. lOS.

^ See Appendix A.

3 "Register of St. Thomas's Abbey," p. 38. The other M'itnesses to the deed are
Geoffrey de Oostentin, Robert the Forester, Lionel de Bromiard, and Richard de
Bromiard, and persons of these names were alive in the period assigned to it.
Geoffrey de Oostentin was enfeoffed in Meath prior to 1286, and lived into the next
century. (See Orpen's "Song of Dermot and the Earl," p. 229). Robert the
Forester witnessed a deed during John de Courcy's tenure of the office of justiciary,
1185-90. (See ** Chartulary of St. Mary's Abbey," i, 125). Lionel de Bromiard is
mentioned in a confirmation of Eugenius, Bishop of Clonard, 1174-1194, as having
given certain advowsons to St. Thomas's Abbey, and his nephew Richard was one of
the witnesses to the deed by which the advowsons were conveyed (" Register of
St. Thomas's Abbey," pp. 21, 262).

HOWTH AND ITS OWXEES.

Cornwalsh, and the designation of Corr, now attached to the ruined
castle which stands upon them, was probably the place-name long
before the occupation of the Welshmen.

Almeric the second had succeeded his father as Lord of Howth
before 1190, when he was granted a royal confirmation of the
lands as freely and quietly as his father had held them for the
service of an armed horseman. The grant was executed by the
future King John, then Lord of Ireland and Earl of Mortain, at

CoKR Castle.

Bury St. Edmunds, and was attested by several witnesses from
Ireland, including the Archbishop of Dublin and the owners of
Castleknock and Raheny.' From deeds in which his name is
found, either as grantor or as a witness, the second Almeric
would appear to have ruled the peninsula for the next fifty years.
In one of these deeds, which are seven in number, he is described

' See Appendix B. The date of this deed, iis well as of the one by which Nicholas
confiimed Almeric in the possession of the peninsula, has been determined by the
movements of the Archbishop of Dublin, John Comyn. See " Diet. Nat. Biog.,"
xi, 4.55.

THE MIDDLE AGES. 29

as " Lord Almeric de Howth," and in another as " Sir Almeric de
Hovvth, Knight." In a grant to the Priory of All Hallows of
such claim as he might have to the neighbouring lands of
Baldoyle, Almeric the second mentions his wife Johanna, and
accepts as compensation their admission to the fraternity of the
priory church, which secured for them the prayers of the monks,
and other spiritual benefits.^ Another deed in which Almeric
the second appears as the grantor concerns an exchange of land
between him and the vicar of the church of Howth, and refers
to his relations with the clergy, which appear to have been
before that time far from amicable. He undertakes, as well by
an oath as by the deed, and subject to a penalty of forty shillings,
that, for the future, he will not rise up against his clerics "contrary
to justice," or lay violent hands on others unless in self-defence.' In
the remaining five deeds Almeric the second appears as witness
to transactions affecting the adjacent lands of Baldoyle, Kinsaley,
and Donabate.^

It is evident that prior to the execution of the second of these
deeds the church of Howth, which was dedicated to St, Mary and
is now in ruins, was at least in part erected. It consisted
eventually of a nave and chancel, with an aisle and chantry on its
southern side. In Dr. Cochrane's paper* much pains have been
taken to find support for a theory that the aisle was the nave of a.
church erected in the early part of the eleventh century by
the Danish prince, Sitric, on the model of Saxon churches in
Northumberland. But documentary evidence is altogether absent,'
and other archaeologists are not in agreement with Dr. Cochrane
as to the design and stonework bearing resemblance to Saxon
buildings. The nave and chancel are in length eighty-five feet
three inches, and in width at the east end seventeen feet two inches,

' Butler's " Register of All Hallows," p. 51.

- A translation of the deed appears in the Journal R.S.A.I., xxvi, 15. Besides
this deed. Lord Howlh would appear to have formerlj' had in his possession other
charters connected with the church. See " Life of Sir John Gilbert," p. 250.

3 Butler's "Register of All Hallows," p. 53; Christ Church Deeds, no. 40;
Dr. Lawlor's Cal. of the Liber Niger of Christ Church, no. 104 ; " Chartulary of St.
Mary's Abbey," i, 77, 199.

^ Journal R. S. A. L, xxvi, 1.

' Cf. Sir James "Ware's "Antiquities and History of Ireland," Lond., 1705, p. 64,

30 HOWTH AND ITS OWXEKS.

and at the west end sixteen feet; and the aisle and chantry
are in length ninety-five feet, and in width at the east end
seventeen feet two inches, and at the west end eighteen feet six
inches. An arcade of six arches divides the church, but it shows
traces of being the work of various periods, as the arches are
dissimilar, and exhibit transition from the round-headed to the
pointed arch. From marks on the gables Dr. Cochrane conjectured
also that the church liad in its history borne roofs of no less than
four different designs. There are in all fifteen windows. The
east window of the chancel is debased perpendicular, but in the
nave there is at the west end an Early-Englisli window of two
lights which, in Dr. Cochrane's opinion, has not always stood in
its present place. In the chantry at the east end there are the
remains of a fine window, which Dr. Cochrane assigns to the
fourteenth century, and pronounces to be a vigorous example of
tracery work ; and in the aisle, at its western end, there is a window
of similar design to the one in the chancel. Under it there is a
porch, on which Dr. Cochrane relies for his theory as to the Saxon
origin of that part of the church ; and on the southern side, at the
west end, there is another porch of Early-English architecture. Over
the western end of the nave a belfry-gable rises with openings for
three bells and a stairway approaching them.

The castle used by Almeric the first is mentioned in the agree-
ment with the vicar, which describes the eastern boundary of the
land given by Almeric the second to him as a stream fiowing into
the sea between the church and " tlie old castle." Before that
time this castle had evidently been superseded by one on the
present site; and the effect of the exchange of land with the vicar
was to add to the demesne to the west by reducing it to the east,
where the former castle had stood. The land given by Almeric to the
vicar is said to have comprised twenty-five acres of his demesne,
bounded on the east by the stream just mentioned, on the south by
the road from Clontarf, on the west by an artificial division, and
on the north by the sea ; and in return for it he received from the
vicar fifteen acres of land near liis gate towards the town of
Cornwalsh.^

1 In his paper Dr. Cochrane has taken a different view as to the situation of this
land, but the site of " tlie old castle " was unknown to him.

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THE MIDDLE AGES. 31

By this deed Almeric the second granted also to the vicar
various privileges to augment his income, and one of these shows
that the fishing industry was as important to Howth then as it is
to-day, and that the owner of Howth received a great revenue
from it. According to the terms of the deed, Almeric being moved
thereto by piety, granted to the vicar pardon from all customs due
to him in respect of one fishing-boat, and undertook that the
remission should apply not only to the owner of the boat, but also
to the fishermen in it, who were not to be obliged to sell to
Almeric fish unless they wished to do so, and were to receive the
full market value in the port without any difficulty or delay.
Another of the covenants shows that turf was then obtained
for the purpose of fuel on the peninsula. It provides that the
vicar's men and tenants should be free from all servitude and
exaction, and should have turf and pasture for their animals, as
other men on the peninsula, and should traffic through the whole
of Almeric 's land quietly and without impediment. Lastly,
Almeric promised to allow his own men to work for the vicar for
hire when he did not himself require them.

Henry appears to have succeeded the second Almeric as Lord
of Howth, but knowledge of him is only gained from a deed
executed about 1248, in connexion with land in the parish of
Castleknock belonging to the Priory of All Hallows, to which his
name is appended as a witness.^

From the middle of the thirteenth century to the end of the
fourteenth century, the owners of Howth are constantly mentioned
in the Irish records. They were foremost in the life of their
country, and no less active in military than in civil avocations. By
degrees cadets of the house, who were more generally known by
the surname of Howth than by that of St. Lawrence, settled out-
side the peninsula ; and towards the close of the thirteenth century

1 Butler's "Register of All Hallows," p. 61. The date of this deed has been
determined by the names of two of the other witnesses. Lord Eadulph de Fingal and
Richard de Finglas. The former is mentioned as -witness of a deed of the year 1149
(Dr. Lawlor's, Cal. of the Liber Niger of Christ Church, no. 113), and the latter is
found acting with Philip de Rath, who appears as a witness to a deed of the year
1247. (Butler's "Register of All Hallows," p. 6G ; Christ Church Deeds, no. 59.)

32 HOWTPI AND ITS OAVNEES.

they are found displaying varied activities throughout the counties
that afterwards formed the EngHsh Pale. To Louth they appear
to have been more particularly attracted, and in it they have left
their name imprinted on one of the townlands that lie on the
Meath border.'

The history of the owners of Howth in the mediaeval period
tends to show that their castle was one of the most important
dwellings in the neighbourhood of Dublin ; but alterations in later
times have left little remains of it, and no certainty can be felt as
to its extent or design. Similarly, their possession of the right of
court leet and court baron proves that they possessed the fullest
manorial jurisdiction ; but of their administration of the manor, or
of the life upon it, no information has come down to us. For
many generations tlie entrance to the peninsula continued to be
held by the Cornwalsh family. During the thirteenth century they
are mentioned as suffering from illegal exactions on the part of
the owners of the adjacent lands of Eaheny, and as supplying the
army with cows ; and in the fourteenth century they are seen, like
the lord of the soil, engaged in legal conflict with the Priory of
All Hallows respecting the manor of Baldoyle, and acting as
custodians of the port of Howth.*

The evidence of the importance of the port at that period
arrests attention, and the number and size of the ships that found
shelter in the small harbour under the first castle are not a little
surprising. In 1315 it was considered necessary to appoint as
many as four persons to prevent ships sailing from Howth without
the permission of the Government ; and eight years later as many
as ten were appointed to prevent the exportation of food,' while

' See Appendix C.

- In 1218 Eaj-niund le Cornewaleis appears, in 1238 Richard Corwalense, in 1260
and 1280 Gilbert le Waleys, in 1307 Luke le "Waleys, and in 1323 Henry le Waleis.
"Chartulary of St. Mary's Abbey," i, 211, 214, 468, 494 (cf. for date of deed on
p. 211, Christ Church Deed, no. 489, on p. 468, ibid., nos. 22 and 23, on p. 494, ibid.,
no. 506, and on p. 214, "Register of All Hallows," p. 53); Sweetman's Calendar,
1252-84, no. 1890 ; Butler's " Register of All Hallows," p. 52, and Gilbert's " Hist,
and Munic. Doc," p. 375.

3 Gilbert's "Hist, and Munic. Doc," p. 375; Mem. Rolls, 16 Edw. III. The
names were in 1315 Nicholas Mole, John Reyner, Radolph de Seton, and William
Seton, and in 1323 John Amory, Ralph Mole, William le Vilers, Alexander Savage,

THE MIDDLE AGES. 33

in 1335 one of the largest class of vessels of that period, known as
a cog, which was cast away on the Cornish coast while carrying
hides to Normandy, is said to have hailed from Howth, and later in
that century the Howth ships were used for the exportation of
corn in very large quantities.^ In 1348 a pestilence, that laid
waste Dublin and Drogheda, is said to have been brought to Howth
by some of the numerous persons landing there, and to have
spread thence to the larger towns.^ It was then the custom for
ships going to Drogheda to lie at Howth until the merchants paid
for the cargo and provided a pilot to undertake the navigation
to Drogheda, which was considered a dangerous port,^ and ships
from Liverpool engaged in the conveyance of Irish labourers to
England, which was a contraband traffic, used sometimes to resort
chere.* Of the Howth port the chief governors began early to
make use. In 1380 Edmund Mortimer, Earl of March, and in
1389 Sir John Stanley, landed there, and in 1403 the boy Lord
Lieutenant, Prince Thomas of Lancaster, took ship there after his
first visit to Ireland.^ As in later times, the reputation of the
Howth fishery stood high, and towards the close of the four-
teenth century one of those engaged in it was appointed to buy fish
for the chief governor, in whatever part of Ireland he might be.'

Of the inhabitants, other than the lords of the soil and the
Corn Walshes, during mediaeval times, little is known. From the
fact that at the close of the thirteenth century John de Sutton is
bracketed on a jury with one of the St. Lawrences^ it is probable
that a family named Sutton resided on the southern lands of the
peninsula called by that cognomen.* By the rectors, who were

Henry le Waleis, Ralph de St. Lawrence, John Mole, Osbert Midwyst, Oliver de
Kilbarroek, and John Forde.

1 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1334-38, p. 147, 1399-1401, p. 236.

2 D'Alton's " Hist, of Co. Dublin," p. 133.
» Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1358-61, p. 114.

« Plea Roll, 232, m. 2.

5 " Chartulary of St. Mary's Abbey," ii, 284 ; Cal. Pat. Rolls, Irel., pp. 144, 177 ;
Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1401-05, p. 390.

6 " The King's Council in Ireland," ed. Rev. James Graves, p. 163.
' Sweetman's Calendar, 1285-92, p. 440.

8 In 1297, Ririth de Howth appears as attorney in a plea of debt, in 1306 Simon de
Estham of Howth was deprived of a cow by the purveyors of the justiciary, and in

34 HOWTH ANT) ITS OWNERS.

prebendaries of St. Patrick's Cathedral, it is improbable that the
peninsula was often visited ; and the names of only two vicars,
Walter de Suell, who held the cure when the church is supposed
to' have been built, and William Young, who held the cure in 1327,
have come down to us. During the fourteenth century the Howth
prebendaries are notable for the zeal with which they seek
preferment in England and leave to reside out of Ireland, and in
one instance a prebendary is found within four mouths of his
appointment making arrangements to transfer into England his
spoils in the shape of victuals for his household, and horses,
goshawks, and falcons for his own use. Not a little remarkable
also is the persistency with which the Popes tried during that
century to intrude nominees of their own into the prebend, and
the small success which attended their efforts.'

Nicholas, Lord of Howth, is found in possession of the lands
in 1264, and before that time in consideration of military service
he had obtained the accolade.'- Notwithstanding the grant made
by Almeric the second to the Priory of All Hallows only
some forty years before, Nicholas had renev/ed the claim to the
lands of Baldoyle, and in the year 1270 extorted a sum of forty
marks from the monks in consideration of abandoning legal pro-
ceedings which he had instituted against them.* He was no
less prominent in civil than in military life, and is found acting
as a juror and a justice of the gaol delivery. In the former
capacity he served in an inquiry regarding the erection of a
church in Dublin by the Carmelite Order, and in the latter
capacity he liberated an Englishman who was charged with the
death of an Irishman — an exercise of judicial authority for which
he was relegated to the Castle of Dublin,*

1305 Stephen de Packer of Howth, a memher of a family trading with Gascony. was
charged with felony. Mills's "Justiciary Rolls," 1295-1303, p. Ill; 1305-07,
pp. 157, 251, 484.

' See Appendix D.

= " Liber Niger," A' 400 ; " Chartulary of St. Mary's Abbey," i, 473.

» " Register of All Hallows," p. 52. '

* Sweetman's Calendar, 1252-84, nos. 1609, 2113. See for other references to
him '• Chartulary of St. Mary's Abbey," i, 508, 509 ; Christ Church Deeds, nos. 114,
115 ; Mills's "Justiciary Rolls," 1303-07, p. 257.

THE MIDDLE AGES. 35

Adam had before 1291 succeeded Nicholas as Lord of Howth,
hut his right of succession was apparently recognized not without
difficulty. Between the years 1285 and 1290 Nicholas on six
occasions paid a fine for trespass in an increasing amount at the
suit of Adam, and in 1286 Adam paid likewise a fine on two
occasions.^ This dispute was also probably accountable for the
appearance of Nicholas in the year 1286 before the Treasurer and
Barons of the Exchequer to make a statement on oath in regard
to his tenure of Howth. In that statement he mentioned that
his ancestors had held the lands and tenements of Howth under
the charter granted by King John to the second Almeric, and that
they were accustomed to make suit to the county of Dublin; and
he testified that both he and his ancestors had rendered service at
the gate of Dublin Castle in respect of their property.' It is
probable that Nicholas's successor was an Adam de Howth, who,
with his wife Mabel, was forced in 1282 to surrender sixteen
acres in the town of the Castle of Howth to Alice, daughter of
Eoger de Crumba ;^ but the eldest son of Nicholas's successor was
not born until 1296, and his mother's name was Isabella.* She
is said to have been a daughter of William Pilate, a cadet of a
Hertfordshire family, who had settled in the county of Meath,
and her sister is claimed by the Cusacks of Gerardstown as
an ancestress.*

Like his predecessor, Adam was active in civil life. During
the years 1305 and 1306 he served on live juries in trials before
the justiciary. Two of these were criminal trials, the charges
being the receiving of stolen property, and the harbouring of a
felon ; and three were common pleas, namely, a suit touching the
fishery at the Salmon Leap, a suit against an ex-mayor of Dublin
for detaining the corporation seal, and a suit against a merchant
of Dublin for evading customs on wine which he had landed at
Dalkey. He is also found acting as witness in connexion with
property in Finglas parish, and as surety for inhabitants of

>■ Sweetman's Calendar, 1285-92, paisim. ^ '* Book of Howth," p. 227.

3 Plea Eoll, 10 Edw. I. * Patent EoU, 18 Edw. II.

^ Lodge's "Peerage," iii, 184.

D 2

36 HOWTH AND ITS OWXEES.

Malahidc accused of unlawful possession of wreck of the sea, and
serving as sheriff of Dublin and Meath.' But, unlike his pre-
decessor, Adam does not appear to have been inspired with
military ardour. In several expeditions of his time the service by
which he held Howth was commuted, and there is no evidence of
the honour of knighthood having fallen to his lot.^

Distinction on the field of battle is, however, said to have
been won by a scion of the house of Howth, another Almeric, at
the close of the thirteenth century. According to the Book of
Howth,^ he was one of a band of Irish knights who went then to
the assistance of Edward the First in his wars with Scotland, and
he proved himself not the least valorous of this company of young
men, who, we are told, bore the bell everywhere they went in
Scotland, and were well accepted and rewarded by their sovereign.
No less romantic than brave, Sir Almeric is said to have challenged
at the north side of Edinburgh one Robert de Wallace to mortal
combat for the hand of the Lady Amerus, daughter of the Earl of
Rosse, and, after disposing of his rival, displayed what his
panegyrist represents as marvellous constancy in never for-
saking the fair lady, for whom he had, we are told, pined for no
less than five years.

During Adam's time Howth saw a remarkable exhibition of
ecclesiastical rivalry, A great question of that day was as to the
right of the Archbishop of Armagh to bear his cross erect in the
province of Dublin, and watch appears to have been kept to
prevent such a manifestation of supremacy. In the year 1313, on
the day after the Annunciation, a new Archbishop of Armagh
landed at Howth, and seeing, as he thought, an opportunity of
stealing a march on his episcopal brother, he rose during the
night, and set out towards Armagh, with his cross raised on high.
His triumphal progress suffered, however, a rude interruption at
the Priory of Grace Dieu, where he encountered some of the
Archbishop of Dublin's retainers, and the chronologers tell us

> Mills's "Justiciary Rolls" 1295-1303, 1305-07, passim; 39 Kept. D. K.R.I. ,
69.
5 Sweetman's Calendar, 1293-1301, nos. 259, 442 ; 1302-07, p. 85. ^ p. 125.

r^iguifliifrt;«<vQQ'q-'0 -o u'///-"niH )vhcoq cr "><,,•>.,->

'i/\-fi-G'oy^ P^<5J^ICleti;Ll^^'v//A/'A.,,' ME FbClT"^'-\l

TOMB - EFFIGIES AND INSCRIPTION

THE MIDDLE AGES. 37

that his exit from Leinster was made in confusion, with the
emblem of his authority laid very low/

Adam the second succeeded Adam the first in the possession
of Howth as his eldest son. In the year 1325, on March 25, the
lands owned by Adam de Howth, deceased, were taken into the
king's hands, and on April 3 following they were granted to his
son Adam, who was stated to have been at least twenty-eight
years of age on the previous feast of All Saints.* Shortly after-
wards Adam the second admitted the right of his mother Isabella
to a third of the manor of Howth as her dowry ,^ and granted the
vicar of Howth portion of his demesne, estimated at thirty acres,
which was probably the same land as his predecessor Almeric had
granted to the vicar of his day.*

The culmination of the historic feud between the Berminghams
and the men of Uriel, the assassination of John Bermingham, Earl
of Louth, and his kinsmen, occurred in the lifetime of the second
Adam ; and according to the Book of Howth,* which gives a realistic
account of the circumstances, a member of Adam's family, William
Howth, avenged afterwards two of those assassinated. One of
these is said to have been the owner of Malahide, Eichard Talbot,
whose daughter William Howth had married, and the other was
•one of the Berminghams, called Almeric. The assassins were,
according to the Book of Howth, two brothers, John Gernon and
Eoger Gernon ; and about a week after the slaughter, when the
Gernons were returning from Dublin, where they had gone to sue
for pardon, they met " beneath the hills from Gormanstown to
Drogheda," William Howth with one of his brothers called Walter,
and what an annotator calls " shrewd talk between gentlemen "
•ensued, with the result that William Howth challenged John
Gernon to single combat. William Howth is described as a young

1 "Chartulary of St. Mary's Abbey," ii, 342.

^ Patent Roll, 18 Edw. II. There was possibly further dispute about the
succession. See 42 llept. D.K.R.I., p. 52.

' Plea Roll, Edw. II, no. 1.50.

* Memoranda Roll, 2 Hen. YIl, 17. It is stated that this grant, which was effected
•on May 1, 1327, was made by an Almeric de Howth ; but the entry is confused, and
there seems no doubt that the grant was made by Adam de Howth the second.

5 p. 152; cf. Gilbert's "Viceroys," p. 172.

38 HOWTH AND ITS OWNEES.

man of twenty-three, of slight stature, and John Gernon as the
strongest man in Ulster, but William Howth prevailed, and slew
him, and, refusing aid from his brother, challenged subsequently
Roger Gernon, and after a long fight also slew him.

Nicholas, who, on the death of Adam the second, succeeded ta
Howth in 1334 as his eldest son,' was at the time of his father's
death only thirteen years of age, and his mother, whose Christian
name was Scholastica, long survived, marrying as a second husband
Robert Tyrell, Lord of Castleknock, with whom, in 1370, she
perished of plague.^ At first the care of Nicholas's person and
fortune was committed to the Chief Justice of the Common Pleas,
Thomas Louth/ but before long Louth was relieved of the trust,
and " for urgent reasons touching the King " the wardship and
marriage of Nicholas was entrusted to John Plunkett of Beaulieu.
A usual result followed : the ward was married to the guardian's
daughter, and Alicia Plunkett became the wife of Nicholas.* Por
seventy years Nicholas held the estates and honours of his family.
He is said to have been a man of " singular honesty,"* and he
attained to a high position in the State. His name appears as a
member of all the great councils of his time, as one of the guardians
of the peace for the county of Dublin, and as a supervisor of the
rebuilding of the great bridge in Dublin over the Liffey.*

Legal proceedings, which were instituted in the year 1384 at
Carlow against Nicholas Howth and Margery, his wife, indicate
that Nicholas married a second time." These proceedings, which
concerned dower, were instituted by one of the Taaffes of
Braganstown, where the Earl of Louth was murdered, and afford
corroboration of the Book of Howth.* According to it, for some

1 Cal. Pat. Rolls, Irel., pp. 39, 40.

2 Ibid., p. 101 ; " Book of Howth," p. 169.
•^Ciil. Pat. Kolls, Irel., p. 40.

* Patent 9 Edw. III. It has been, however, calendared as a Roll of Edward II,
which has led previous writers on the Howth pedigree into error. Cal. Pat. Rolls,.
Irel., p. 20.

* "Ancient Irish Histories," ii. 19.

« Lynch's "Legal Institutions," pp. 320, 323; Lodge's "Peerage," iii, 185;
" Chartulary St. Mary's Abbey," ii, 425.

' Plea Roll, 8 Ric. II. ^p. 155,

THE MIDDLE AGES.

years after the encounter between William Howth and the
Gernons, whenever the Howth family and the men of Uriel met
in Dublin or Drosjheda swords were drawn with disastrous
consequences to the men of Uriel, until at length, in order to
secure peace, the head of the Taaffe family married his daughter
to one of the Howth family, and gave much land with her. From
other legal proceedings Nicholas is found to have been, in 1347,
the defendant in a charge of unlawfully disseizing from a tenement
in Sutton one Geoffrey Montgomery, no doubt a descendant as
well as namesake of Almeric the first's standard-bearer, and with
him there was joined as defendant John Howth, who is elsewhere
described as of Ballymadrought, near Swords.*

The opening of the fifteenth century saw the end of Nicholas's
long life. Although, as will be seen, the house of Howth took an
active part in the later dissensions of the Eoyal family, there is no
indication that the accession of Henry the Fourth was regarded by
it with any concern. Owing to his position, Nicholas must have
been brought into contact with Kichard the Second during his
visits to this country, but he seems to have transferred his
allegiance to Henry the Fourth without scruple, and to have
entertained the king's son, Prince Thomas of Lancaster, who before
embarking signed more than one patent at Howth.

1 Plea Roll, 20 and 21 Ed« . III.

Akms on Tomb.

( 40 ;

CHAPTP^.R IV.

IN PLANTAGENET AND TUDOK TIMES.

The period covered by this chapter was a critical one for the
Anglo-Irish, and eventful in the history of the owners of Howth.
It opens with the Wars of the Eoses, passes on to the revolt in
favour of Lambert Simnel, and closes at a time when England
was rent asunder by the wars of religion. The distinguished part
played by the owners of Howth under the later Plantagenet
sovereigns is marked by a great altar-tomb, which was then
raised in the parish church to one of the most illustrious of the
St. Lawrence line. The tomb bears on its slab, which measures
seven feet two inches long, and three feet eleven inches broad,
the effigies of a kniglit and a lady, and its ends and its sides
are elaborately carved.

" The knight is shown in armour," says the Keeper of the Irish
Antiquities in the National Museum,' "wearing a pointed bascinet.
His head rests upon a cushion ; his feet are supported by a hound
couchant. He is represented in what appears to be a camail of
mail, an archaic feature at that period, when one expects to find
a plate gorget, or possibly a standard or collar of mail. A skirt
of mail appears below tlie end of his body armour. His sword is
worn in front in the fashion prevalent in the latter part of the
fifteenth century. The lady lies on the knight's right side. She
is shown wearing the horned head-dress fashionable at that period,
and a full gown with many pleats. Her head and feet rest upon
cushions. The hands of both figures are shown lying flat, palms
downwards, on the breast, a position that was doubtless adopted
by the sculptor to avoid carving the hands clasped in high relief,
in the usual attitude of prayer. Hound the edge of the slab

1 Mr. E. C. R. Armstrong, f.s.a..

IN" PLANTAGENET AND TUDOE TIMES.

there runs an. inscription which has been deciphered by Professor
E. A. S. Macalister ;* and which shows that the tomb was erected in
memory of Christopher St. Lawrence, Lord of Howth, who died in
1462, and his wife, who was a daughter of the house of Plunkett
of Eatoath.

Tomb — East End.

" The ends of the monument are divided into four arched niches
•decorated with floriated work. The east end contains effigies of
St. Peter and St. Catherine, and of an ecclesiastic and an abbess,

Tomb — West End.

possibly meant for St. Patrick and St. Brigid. The outer niches
of the west end are each filled with the figure of an angel w ith a

' See Appendix 0, p. 168.

HOWTH AND ITS OWNEKS.

censer, and the inner niches contain carvings of St. Michael and
the dragon and the CruciSxion. The sides of the tomb are divided
into six similar niches on each side. These niches are empty, but

between their arched floriated heads are carved shields of arms,
except in one case where the emblems of the Passion are inserted.
Commencing on the south side and passing from right to left, the

IN PLANTAGENET AND TUDOR TIMES.

first shield contains the arms of St. Lawrence impaling those of
Plunkett, the Plunkett arms being reversed and differenced with
an annulet ; the second an indented chief, which may stand for the

O
I
o

arms of Butler or le Poer ; the third the Plunkett arms ; the
fourth the arms of Fleming ; and the fifth the arms of Cusack.
On the north side the first shield contains the arms of Bellew ; the

44 HOWTH AND ITS OWNEES.

second a doubtful coat which ma)' represent the arms of Barry
or possibly Hussey ; the third the arms of St. Lawrence ; the
fourtli the arms of White ; and the fifth the emblems of the
Passion."'

Such references to the peninsula as occur in the period under
review relate prhicipally to the port. Its importance then for
mercantile traffic is evidenced in the care taken by the Corporation
of Dublin that goods landed at Howth should not escape the pay-
ment of dues to them. The right to exact the same custom on
goods landed there as on goods landed at Dublin was confirmed to
the Corporation by Henry the Sixth, and when later on the owner
of Howth disputed their right, the whole power of the Corporation
was put in motion in its defence.* Amongst passengers landing
at Howth in the fifteenth century we find Sir John de Grey, who
held the sword for a brief period f Eichard, Duke of York, whose
viceroyalty gained for him great popularity in the Pale ;* and
Sir Edward Poynings, whose name is familiar in connexion with
the limitation of the powers of the Irish Parliament f and amongst
those sailing from it we find a Chief Baron, James Cornwalsh,
who was possibly one of the old Howth clan.^ In the sixteenth
century we find sailing from it, in the reign of Edward the Sixth,
Sir Edward Bellingham" and Sir James Croft,^ and in the reign
of Mary, the Earl of Sussex. **

There is some reason to believe that in the opening years of
Henry the Seventh's reign the owner of Howth resided at
Killester,'° and it is possible that opportunity may have been then
taken to adapt the Castle of Howth to the expanding ideas of

• Even three hundred years ago difficulty was found in determining the families to
which some of the arms helonged. See notes "in the church of Howth taken the
11th of September, 1584," in Trinity College Library, MS. 581, 72. The date on the
tomb was then said to be 1430. A description of the tomb, with a wood-cut of the
effigies, by R. A., appeared in " The Dublin Penny Journal," ii, 72. In his "Essay
on Gothic Architecture in Ireland," p. 177, Thomas Bell has made an attempt to
prove that the tomb is Elizabethan.

* Ancient Records of Dublin, i, 143 ; Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1441-46, p. 101.

2 Gilbert's " Viceroys," p. 323. * Ibid., p. 353. » I/mL, p. 450.

« Cal. Pat. Rolls, Irel., p. 243. ' Fiant, Edw. YI, no. 426.

8 Ibid., no. 1162. « Cal. S. P., Carew, 1515-74, p. 278.
'0 "Book of Howth," p. 177.

IN PLANTAGENET AND TUDOR TIMES.

that time, but no certainty on the question is attainable. Even
at that early period the Castle appears to have been provided with
cannon ;^ and after Silken Thomas's rebellion it withstood a
somewhat formidable attack made upon it by the Irish tribes."

Besides the Castle of Howth two other residences of consider-
able dimensions stood in the sixteenth century on the peninsula.
The first of these was Corr Castle, which belonged to the family of
White, and the other, which stood on the lands of Sutton, belonged
to the family of Hackett.^ The remains of Corr Castle have been
thus described by the President of the Royal Society of Antiquaries
of Ireland :^ — " They consist of an oblong tower, four stories high,

m^^.

STAIR
TURRET.

Entrance
onstcondL
floor

N.£- CORNER ^

CoKR Castle.

nineteen and a half by twenty-two feet outside, and thirteen
and a half by fifteen and a half feet inside. The third story
has a stone floor which rests on a vault still bearing the mark of
the wicker centering over which it was built. For some reason which
is not apparent, this vault covers only part of the space, leaving
an opening the whole length of the south wall. Indeed, defence
seems not to have been considered by the builders ; no murder-
hole or loops command the door, nor are there any machicolations.

1 Letters and Papers, Ric. Ill and Hen. VII, ii, 300.

- *' Book of Howth," p. 193.

' In 1550 "William Whytof Corrystonand Michael Hacketof Sutton are mentioned
in connexion with the manor of Ward, in which the St. Lawrences had an interest.
Fiant, Edw. VI, no. 493.

* Mr. T. J. Westropp, m.a.

46 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

although a corbel fora chimney to the east might easily be mistaken
for one. A small turret, eight by five and a half feet, con-
tains the spiral stair, which commences about seven feet from the
ground at the level of the ground-floor. The basement of this
turret, which forms a small room, and was probably the porter's
lodge, is corbelled like the turret rooms in Howth Castle, and is
lit by unglazed slits. The north-east angle of the main tower has
a bold chamfer for about six feet up, with a defaced floral finial.
The only other carving is a rude human face on a projecting stone
in the east wall. The windows are very plain, oblong with
chamfered edges, save the south window of the top room, which
has a well-cut trefoil light with ogee curves and an angular hood.
" The basement has a single window to the south and east ; a
second one to the east below the staircase, which looked into the
porter's room, is closed. Rude ambries remain on most of the
floors. The doorways, as a rule, are pointed, and have bolt-holes,
but no trace of large bars. The second and third floors have, to
the south, windows with seats to each side ; the third floor has
other smaller windows to the north and east, and a neat, flat-
arched recess to the south. There was a garde-robe in the south-
west corner of the second and third floors ; the doors of the garde-
robe and of the stair-case opened back into the shallow recesses in
the wall. The stairs are of far better execution than are usually
seen in the peel and church towers of the Dublin district, and,
though without a newel, the steps are neat and well set. They
number forty in all, and lead to the battlements, which command a
fine view of the sea, similar to the one from the chief tower of
Howth Castle, and also of the southern side of the peninsula.
The doorways, which open to the upper stories at the sixteenth
and twenty-ninth steps, are also well cut. The remains of the
projecting piers of doors, and an angular mark on the north side,
show that a wing two stories high adjoined the tower on that side,
the entrance to the upper story from the tower being by a
pointed doorway, now built up, beside the lower doorway of the
tower stair-case."'

1 Cf. Archaeologia, xxxviii, 172, and "The Irish Builder" for 1898, pp. 91, 98,
108.

IN PLANTAGENET AND TUDOR TIMES. 47

The erection of the altar-tomb led probably to extensive
structural changes in the church. Before the erection of the
altar-tomb the church appears to have consisted of a nave and
chancel, with an aisle on the northern side of the nave, to which
the aisle was nearly equal in length. On the erection of the
altar-tomb the chancel in which it was placed was converted into
a chantry, and a new chancel seems to have been built on its
northern side in continuation of the aisle, which became the nave
in the new arrangement. By tradition the church is designated
an abbey church, but the only ground for the supposition that it
had a higher status than a parochial one is to be found in the
name, " The College," which is attached to a building near its
southern side. This building is similar in its architectural features
to the later chancel, and would appear not improbably to have
been erected at the same time as a residence for the clergy whose
duty it was to officiate in the chantry.*

As it contains a window of similar design to that in the later
chancel, the belfry gable was also probably erected at the same
period. The bells which filled the three opes are still preserved
in Howth Castle, and bear the following inscriptions : —

(1) Jesu Criste misserere noibs.

(2)- Sancta Maria ora pro nobis ad Filium.

(3) Nicholas Mun Cir of Mebiginer.*

During the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the prebendaries
of Howth, who were chiefly men of Irish birth, looked for
preferment in Ireland rather than in England, and contented
themselves with such promotion as the deanery of their own
cathedral and the archdeaconry of their diocese afforded.^ Of the
vicars, the name of only one, Nicholas Carney, who was appointed
in 1532, has come down to us ; but a chaplain, John Joy of
Howth, who is mentioned in 1549 as a trustee for Lord Howth,
was probably one of the clergy serving in the church.

1 See "Warburton, "Whitelaw, and Walsh's " History of Dublin," ii, 1260 ;
Huband Smith's " Day at Howth," p. 26.

- See Thomas Bell's " Gothic Architecture in Ireland," p. 174.

2 See Appendix E.

1*^

iiAii

H
CO

I-;-

X
E-^

IN PLANTAGENET AND TUDOK TIMES. 49

Stephen, who succeeded to the title and estates in 1404, on the
death of Nicholas, Lord of Howth, was probably his grandson. He
appears to have married in 1387 Elinor, daughter of Sir Robert
Holywood of Artain, which manor he held subsequently as a trustee.'
In 1410 he was appointed, with Richard Eochford, to take tithes of
Howth for the expenses of the Lord Deputy;- in 1415 he is
mentioned as paying rents for the lands of Kilbarrack f and in
1421 he was required to render homage for Howth and for the
lands of Stapolin in the parish of Baldoyle, which he did also in
succeeding years.* It was during his time, in the autumn of 1425,
that Chief Baron Cornwalsh took ship at Howth, and that in the
summer of 1427, Sir John de Grey landed there, and possibly
enjoyed his hospitality before proceeding to Swords, where he was
sworn into office next day.'

Christopher, who as son and heir of Stephen, Lord of Howth,
came into possession of the peninsula in 1435 and did homage as
its owner in 1437,* exhibited capacity and courage, and gained
much renown in the troublous times in which he lived. His
character is first conspicuous in his assertion of his rights as Lord
of Howth, and in his management of his property. Within a few
years of his succession he made a claim to all wrecks of the sea
upon the peninsula,' and contested the right of the Crown to
have as a royalty a grampus, twelve feet long, which had been
thrown upon it, pleading that from time immemorial his predeces-
sors had been seized of all porpoises, grampuses, and herring-swine
found there.* During a great council held in 1450 he appeared
as patron of one Richard Ingram, a miner and refiner, who "at
great and insupportable cost and labour " had worked in Ireland
divers mines of silver, lead, iron, coal, gypsum, and millstone, and
was granted leave himself to search within his lordship of Howth
for tin or lead ore, and if a mine was found to take the profits for

1 Cal. Pat. Rolls, Irel., pp. 135, 257. ^ Ibid., p. 196.

3 Mem. Roll, 2 Hen. V. * Ibid., 8 Hen. V, and 2 and 4 Hen. VI.

5 Cal. Pat. RoUs, Irel., p. 243; Gilbert's " Viceroys," p. 323.
« Cal. Pat. Rolls, Irel., p. 257 ; Mem. Roll, 15 Hen. VI.
' Mem. Roll, 20 Hen. VI.
8 Lynch's " Legal Institutions," p. 148.

50 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

three years, subject to a royalty of six shillings and eight pence.'
Some years later he retaliated vigorously on some inhabitants of
Wicklow for imposing on him salt wliich they liad unlawfully
obtained, and caused them to be declared outlaws,' and he souglit
the aid of the Irish Parliament to free lands, in which he had an
interest, from unjust taxation, and secured legislation in liis
favour.*

But his great qualities are early seen also in regard to affairs
of State. Before 1442 he had been knighted,* and ten years later
he was appointed a member of the king's council/ and became
foremost in protecting his county as well by sea as by land
against the enemies of the king. In April, 1455, he was com-
missioned to exact from those using the port of Howth tolls to
defray the cost of protecting the shipping from the attacks of
'* Frenchmen, Bretons, Scots, and divers other nations " ; and he
supervised the erection of barriers on the bridges of Lucan and Kil-
mainham and at various fords, by which Irish enemies and English
rebels were wont to cross the Liffey by night and to descend on
Fingal to rob, kill, and destroy the king's liege people.* In the
following October he was joined with the Archbishop of Dublin,
the Abbot of St. Mary's, and the Priors of Kilmainham and
Christ Church, in strengthening the liands of a sheriff of Dublin
county under whose weak rule the march was likely to be destroyed,
and three years later he was joined with the Prior of Kilmainham
and the Abbots of St. Thomas's and St. Mary's in reporting on the
conduct of the Walshes of Carrickmines, which was then regarded
in very diverse lights.'

Christopher became no doubt known to Richard Duke of York,
the father of Edward the Fourth, on his arrival as Lord Lieu-
tenant. It was in his time, in the summer of 1449, that the Duke
landed at Howth, accompanied by his wife, the Rose of Raby, and
attended by a strong body of soldiers;** and from that time

1 Dr. Berry's " Statute Rolls," Hen. VI, pp. 279, 285.

2 Ibid., p. 547. ^ Ibid., p. 519. * Mem. Roll, 20 Hen. VI.

* Dr. Berry's " Statute Rolls," Hen. VI, p. 375.

♦ Ibid., pp. 313, 315. ' Ibid., pp. 367, 561.
« Gilbert's "Viceroys," p. 353.

IN PLANTAGENET AND TUDOR TIMES. 51

Christopher stood high in the Duke's favour. When the Wars of
the Roses broke out, Christopher followed the Duke to England
and joined his standard ;' and he was, no doubt, prominent
amongst the earls and homagers who flocked round the Duke on
his return to Ireland in the autumn of 1459, after the desertion
of his followers at Ludlow.- In the enactments of the Parliament
which the Duke called then in Ireland, Christopher's name is
mentioned several times : first, as a commissioner to adjudge com-
pensation to persons suffering from the neglect of the guardians of
the coast, then as one excepted from an act of resumption, and,
lastly, as an officer of the Crown who proposed to accompany " the
high and puissant prince, Richard, Duke of York," on his return
to England.' The office held by him was that of Constable of the
Castle of Dublin, and a further grant of it was made to him by
Edward the Fourth in consideration of his services.*

During the lifetime of Christopher the Howth title appears to
have been first recognized as an hereditary honour, giving its holder
a right to a seat in the Upper House, and to be enrolled amongst
the barons of Ireland. The place assigned to its holder was
immediately after the Baron of Killeen and before the Baron of
Trimlestown, whose name was entered on the roll in 1461.* It is
not improbable that the names of Lord Howth and Lord Killeen
were added to the roll at the same time and for the same cause,
namely, loyalty to the Duke of York. With Christopher Plunkett,
Lord of Killeen, Christopher St. Lawrence, Lord of Howth, was
connected by fealty, as the Lord of Killeen was overlord of
Kilbarrack, then held as part of the Howth estate, and also by the
nearer tie of marriage, as his wife was a member of the Plunkett
family. As his eldest son's age proves, he must have been married
prior to his succession to Howth, and in the year 1435 he is found
actingjas trustee with the first Lord Killeen.® Besides Howth and

' Mem. Roll, 36 Hen. VI. ^ Paston Letters, ed. James Gairdner, i, 505.

3 Dr. Berry's " Statute Rolls," Hen. VI, pp. 673, 723, 793.
1 Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1461-67, p. 54.

5 Cf. " Complete Peerage," iv, 27; Lynch's " Legal Institutions," pp. 148, 336,
.337, 344.

• Cal. Pat. Rolls, Irel., p. 257.

52 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

the lands of Kilbarrack, Christopher owned at the time of his
death other lands and tenements in the counties of Dublin, Meath,
and Louth, and in tlie town of Drogheda.' One of these holdings
at Eatoath came to him through his wife, the lady commemorated
with liin:k on the altar-tomb, and after his death, when she had
remarried with one Anthony Percy, she was a party to a suit in
regard to that property.' As the inscription on the altar-tomb
records, Christopher's death took place in 1462.

Christopher's family reaped a rich harvest from his services to
the White Eose. Besides his eldest son Eobert he appears to have
had five sons — William, who became possessed of Stapolin, and
was appointed in his father's lifetime Admiral of Ireland;' Thomas,,
who was given a few months after his father's death an annuity
of twenty marks from the manor of Eatoath ;* Almeric, who was
appointed before his father's death Clerk of the Bolls in Ireland,
and who was afterwards described as of London f Lionel, who
became, while a student at Oxford, prebendary of Howth and
precentor of St. Patrick's Cathedral ;* and Walter, who was a
barrister, and became successively Attorney-General and Chief
Baron of the Exchequer in this country.'

Eobert, who succeeded to the title and estate as his father's
eldest son, and who is said to have been twenty-eight years of age
at the time, olitained livery of his inheritance by authority of
Parliament, and not by the usual process of common law.* He
added to the position which he enjoyed as his father's son good
abilities, and before succeeding to Howth, while residing apparently
in a more northern part of the county, he had shown himself one
on whom the State could rely. In 1455 the collection of the tolls
in ihe ports of Eush, Rogerstown, and Portraine was committed to

"' Dr. Berry's " Statute Eolls," Edw. IV, p. 2^3.

2 Mem. Iloll, IS Edw. IV ; Ric. III.

3 Br. Berry's "Statute Rolls," Edw. IV, p. 313; Exchequer Inquisition, Co.
Dublin, Ilen. VIII, no. 31 ; Brit Mus. ILirl. MS., 112.), 104.

^ Cal. Put. II.'IL^, 1461-67, p. 198.

* Ihid., 1452-61, p. 639 ; 1461-67, p. 284.

* Mrs. Green's " Making of Ireland and its Undoiui:," p. 290 ; Mem. Roll,
37 Hen. VI ; Dr. Berry's •' Statute Rolls," Edw. IV, p. 377.

7 See infra. » Dr. Berry's " Statute Rolls," Edw. IV, p. 233.

IN PLANTAGENET AND TUDOR TIMES. 53

"him ; in 1456 he is mentioned as having served as sheriff of his
county ; and in 1460 he was appointed to take an account of
drainage work at Balrothery.'

After his father's death his interest in local affairs did not
abate. In 1464 he was responsible for a levy for further forti-
fications of Kilmainham Bridge, and in 1465 he was engaged in
organizing the militia." The protection of the coast was also in
his charge, and during the feast of the Circumcision following he
'Came into conflict with three Breton merchants, who were coming
to Ireland under the King's protection to sell wine, salt, and iron.
When he descended upon them, they were in a French ship called
the " Mary," which was lying under Lambay, and they accused
him of assaulting them, putting them to flight, and following them
" by force and arms " to the port of Drogheda, and of depriving
the master of the ship of an anchor valued at twenty shillings.
He was brought before the mayor of Drogheda, together with
twenty mariners and a yeoman, and acquitted; but, owing to a
■dispute with the corporation about his property in Drogheda,
he could not get his acquittal recorded, and had to appeal to
Parliament for a ratification of it.'

The distracted state of Ireland after the Wars of the Roses
rendered the path of a public man no easy one, but Robert
took the line that the king's government must be carried on, and
did not allow any change of policy to abate his loyalty to the
York dynasty. What part he took in the obscure events that
preceded the execution of the Earl of Desmond of that time cannot
be determined with certainty. While the Earl of Desmond was
Lord Deputy, Robert appears to have received the honour of
knighthood, and to have been the Earl's host at Howth, where in
the summer of 1464 letters patent were issued by the Earl;* but
there is indication that before the year 1467, when the Earl of
Desmond was superseded by the Earl of Worcester, he had lost
faith in him. The Earl of Worcester, whose fame as a scholar is
tarnished by his cruelty to the FitzGeralds, landed at Howth, and

1 Dr. Berry's " Statute Rolls," Hen. VI, pp. 313, 465, 747.

* Ibid., Edw. IV, pp. 265, 347. s j^,-^,^ p 447^ * ^^^^^^ p_ 317^

54 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

in the proceedings of the Parliament which was called by him, and
which decreed the Earl of Desmond's attainder, Robert is men-
tioned as excepted from an act of resumption, and as a witness to
letters patent which were issued during the session.' A few years
later, in 1472, he joined with the seventh Earl of Kildare, who had
become Lord Deputy, in establishing the Brotherhood of St. George,
an order consisting of the Lord Deputy and twelve knights, and
having as its object the maintenance of an armed force for the
defence of the Pale,- but when the Earl of Kildare's supersession
was in turn found desirable, Robert was again one of those on
whose loyalty the Crown could depend.

The height of royal favour to which he had attained is shown
by a second marriage, which he made a few years later, and in
which the King must have had a part. His first wife had been
an Irish lady, Alice, daughter of Nicholas White, of Killester,
through whom the Killester lands came to the St, Lawrences ;^ but.
his second wife was an English lady of the highest rank, Joan,
daughter of Edmund Beaufort, second Duke of Somerset, a
grandson of John of Gaunt, by his wife, Elinor, daughter of
Ptichard Beauchamp, Earl of Warwick. The marriage was no-
less remarkable on account of tlie lady's Lancastrian descent than
of her rank, but as both her parents were dead, it is probable that
she had been a ward of the King, and that her hand was at his
disposal. The marriage was, no doubt, contracted during a visit
to England, for which Robert obtained leave from the Irish
Parliament in 1475, and it took place in the summer of 1478.
The Earl of Kildare had been superseded shortly before, and his
successor, Henry Lord de Grey, appears in the list of the lady's
trustees, which is headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and
several of the great officers of state,*

A curious glimpse of life at that period is caught in connexion
with the dispute about the dues payable to the Corporation of
Dublin, which occurred in the winter of 1481. It appears that
up to that time their right to exact dues on goods landed at

1 Dr, Berry's " Statute Rolls," pp. o41, 593 ; Gilbert's "Viceroys," p. 385.

• " Complete Peerage," iv, 272 ; Gilbert's " Viceroys," p. 396.

' Mem. Roll, G & 7 Hen. VII. * Cal. Pat. Rolls, Irel., p. 269.

o
u

D
X

><^ '-4^

IN PLANTAGENET AND TUDOE TIMES. 55

Howth had not been questioned, but on the arrival then of a ship
from Milford, laden with coal, Eobert said they should have no
custom on its cargo, and set at defiance, first the servants of the
bailiff, and afterwards the bailiff himself. Finally, the mayor,
council, aldermen, and commons were only stopped from setting
out in a body to Howth to enforce their demands, by Eobert's son
and heir being sent " in pledge " to the mayor, and an agreement
to abide the award of arbitrators, who found that " the mayor and
citizens should enjoy the custom of the haven in time to come
for evermore."^

A few months before the death of Edward the Fourth, in
January, 1483, Eobert was appointed Chancellor of Ireland. He
had possibly been at one of the Inns of Court in London, and he
had gained some experience of legal administration in Ireland in
the offices of Clerk of the Common Pleas of the Exchequer and
Chancellor of the Green Wax, which he had previously held. His
patent was issued in January, 1483, and his appointment may
have had some connexion with a licence of absence granted to
him by the Irish Parliament in 1481, when he intended " in the
name of our blessed Creator to go into the noble kingdom of
England for certain matters there to be done." A new patent was
issued to Eobert in May, 1483, by Edward the Fifth, and in
July following by Eichard the Third ; but the office of Chancellor
was only held by him afterwards for a few months.'

In the spring of 1486 another licence to leave Ireland was
granted to him,^ and probably he went soon afterwards to
England, where his death, which occurred before 1488, took
place.* He was buried in London in the church of the Black
Friars, a church in which some of England's highest nobility
were laid, and was given a place of no little honour, for the list
of burials records that " in the choir lyeth the Lord Howth of
Ireland."*

By his first wife he had two sons, Nicholas and William, and

' "Ancient Records of Dublin," i, 143.

- Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1476-85, pp. 335, 348, 363; Camden Series, Ix, 41; Brit.
Mus., Harl. MS., 433, 14, 24.

3 Plea Roll, 2 Hen. VII. * See infra. ^ "ArchEeologia," Ixiii, 82.

56 HOWTH AXD ITS OWNERS.

by his second wife, who survived liiin many years, and married
as a second husband liichard Fry,' he had three sons, Thomas,
who was a barrister and became a Justice of the King's Bench,*
Walter, and Christopher, who was in holy orders, and became
Archdeacon of Glendalough," and two daughters, Genet, who
married Thomas FitzSimons, Recorder of Dublin, and Anne, who
married Walter Golding.

Nicholas, who succeeded to the title and estate on the death of
Robert Lord of llowth as his eldest son, was almost immediately
called upon to exercise his judgment upon a matter of the greatest
moment, the validity of the claims of Lambert Simnel, and
exhibited more discernment than the majority of the chief men of
the Pale, influenced possibly by his connexion through his step-
mother with Henry the Seventh, According to the Book of Howth*
he perceived from the beginning that the affair was "a mad
dance," and sent over a messenger to tell Henry of the revolt
against his authority, and of its " doers and maintainers." In
refusing to countenance the revolt Nicholas was allied with the
Archbishop of Armagh, but for some reason which is not apparent
they are included in a list of leading men in Ireland pardoned
afterwards by the King,* and when Sir Richard Edgecombe was
sent over to deliver the pardons Nicholas took before him the oath
prescribed for Lambert Simnel's followers.*

Not long after Sir Richard Edgecombe's mission, which was
executed in the summer of 1488, the peers of Ireland were sum-
moned to England to attend upon the King, and were kept for a
considerable time at Court. In consequence of the part which he
had taken, Nicholas was free from any constraint, and he is said to
have delighted the courtiers by his Irish wit. He is described as

' She married R. Fry in 1489. He died in 1504. She died 11 August, 1.518.
Cf. Letters and Papers, Hen. VIII; i, no. 347; iii, nos. 55, 102.

' See infra. ' Fiant, Edw. VI, nos. 93, 162. * "Book of Howth," p. 189.

* Letters and Papers, Hie. Ill and Hen. VII, ii, 370.

* Harris's " Hibernica," p. 37. It is remarkable that two of Nicholas's relations
appear to have been amongst Lambert Simnel's followers. " Great Darcy of Flatten,"
who married Nicholas's aunt (Lodge's "Peerage," vi, 202), bore Simnel on his
shoulder, and Nicholas's uncle, "William, was amongst tliose who made their fealty
before Sir Richard Edgecombe.

IN PLANTAGENET AND TUDOE TIMES. 57

■telling an English peer, who shook with terror on seeing the axe
under which the heads of his father and grandfather had fallen, to
serve God and fear his Prince and all would be well ; and as saying
to Lambert Simnel, who waited on the Irish peers, when he offered
him wine, " Bring me the cup if the wine be good, and I shall
drink it off for the wine's sake and mine own sake also, and for
thee, as thou art, so I leave thee, a poor innocent." Finally, when
the time of departure came Nicholas is said to have been clothed
for the journey in the King's apparel, and given three hundred
pounds in gold, accompanied by the King's thanks ; but his com-
panions, who had been reduced to a state of penury by their
attendance at Court, were sent off without any provision, and had
to make their way home in the guise of mendicants.^

Although he had been the chief supporter of Lambert Simnel's
claims, the Lord Deputy, Gerald FitzGerald, eighth Earl of
Kildare, was not displaced, and in the summer of 1490 Nicholas
joined in representing to the King that it was impossible for the
Lord Deputy to obey his command to attend at Court, owing to
the danger of an attack upon the Pale, and the variances that
existed amongst the leading Anglo-Irish.'* These variances
centred in the rivalry between the Butlers and the Geraldines,
but two years later the Earl of Ormonde's representative. Sir
James Butler, and the Earl of Kildare reconciled their differences
so far as to shake hands through an opening in a closed door in
St. Patrick's Cathedral. At that time, according to the Book of
Howth,^ Nicholas entertained Sir James Butler in his mother's
house at Killester, and resented an attack ^vhich Sir James Butler
thought fit to make at dinner on the Earl of Kildare's conduct.
" I swear by our Lady of the north church of Howth," quoth
Nicholas, "that butler, nor wine-drawer, nor tapster is not in
Ireland, but I daren't stand to defend this quarrel, and if your
lordship be so stomached, and would ease your heart, let us both
take a boat, and go to yonder island of Clontarf, there to ease
your stomach and mine, for our companies here are not in-
different." Whereat Sir James Butler is reported to have departed

1 "Book of Howth," p. 190.

2 Letters and Papers, Ric. Ill and Hen. VII, i, 377 ; ii, xxxvi. ^ p. 177^

58 HOAVTH AND ITS OWNERS.

in a fury, saying that Nicholas's " stout and bullish nature "
would end his days before the natural time.

About the same time a quarrel between Nicholas's brother,
William, and a brother of Sir James Butler had a more serious
ending. William is said to have been " the boldest man of his
hand in the realm," and to have often put his brother, when con-
tention arose between tliem, " in hazard of his life," and he gave
proof of his prowess in his encounter with Sir James Butler's
brother. It took place at Kilmainham Bridge, and William not
only slew there his opponent, but also seven men by whom he was
accompanied.'

Before the scene at Killester the second rising in Ireland
against Henry the Seventh, tlie revolt in favour of Perkin
Warbeck, had begun, and the Earl of Kildare had been superseded
in the office of Lord Deputy. Subsequently, in the autumn of
1493, commissioners who were sent over from England required
him, together with a number of the chief men of the Pale, to enter
into recognizances to suppress the insurgents,^ and a visit was
paid by liim to England in order to make his peace with the
King. Nicholas, who was one of those required to enter into
recognizances in the sum of two hundred pounds, appears to have
accompanied him to England, and in the following January he
was knighted, together with Lord Slane, in the King's Chamber
at Westminster.*

In the month of October, 1494, Sir Edward Poynings, who,
as has been mentioned, landed at Howth, arrived, and, together
with him a thousand soldiers, and a number of Englishmen, who
were appointed to the principal judicial offices,^ but the rising in
favour of Perkin Warbeck was not suppressed for many months.
What part Nicholas took in its suppression is not known, but his
uncle, Walter, was prominent in assisting the forces of the
Crown. Amongst the payments by the State in the summer of
1495 is an item for the conveyance by ship, presumably from
Howth, of arms and cannon wliich had belonged to Eobert Lord.

1 '• Book of Howth," p. 196. - Gilbert's " Viceroys," p. 447.

3 Cal. Pat. Koils, liel., p. 270. Shaw's " Knights of England," ii, 28.
^ Gilbert's " Viceroys," p. 450.

IN PLANTAGENET AND TUDOR TIMES. 59

Howth, as far as Dublin, with the carriage on land to the cellar of
Walter Howth ; and in the following November there is another
item for the carriage of arms and gunpowder from the cellar of
Walter Howth to one of the Dublin inns.^

Walter St. Lawrence, or Howth, Nicholas's uncle, had been
appointed Attorney-General in May, 1491, and is mentioned as
having represented his family in two prosecutions in the preceding
year. One was against Walter Hamlyn of Beaulieu in the county
of Louth, for having by force and arms, namely, with bows, swords,
and arrows, despoiled Thomas Howth of Eichardstown, in the same
county, of a fishing net, and the other was against a fisherman
of Howth, Thomas Keatinge, who was accused of forestalling the
market, and buying four cowhides for eighteen pence. Both these
prosecutions were initiated in the Court of Exchequer, and to the
chief seat in it Walter St. Lawrence was subsequently promoted.
He did not long hold, however, the place of Chief Baron, for his
death is recorded in the Christ Church obits to have taken place
on January 25, 1503.'

When the Earl of Kildare, once again Lord Deputy, made his
expedition to Connaught, in August, 1504, against Ulick Burke,
Nicholas is represented in the Book of Howth as acting the
same part as the founder of his house, and engineering victory for
the Earl of Kildare's army in the battle of Knockdoe.^ " O good God,'*
cried he to four of the leaders who advised retreat, " by our blessed
Lady that blest in the north church of Howth, you four might
have spoken these words in some other ground than this is, and
our enemies now beinw in sidit." His assistance did not end in
speech, and his place in the tight was in the main battle, where he
commanded the billmen, and was ever found the foremost. After
holding the office of Chancellor of the Green Wax for a time* he was
appointed on the accession of Henry the Eighth, in 1509, like his
father, Chancellor of Ireland, but, also like his father, only held
the great seal for a very brief period. Towards the close of his

1 Letters and Papers, Ric. Ill and Hen. VII, ii, 300, 303.

2 Mem. EoUs, 6 and 7 Hen. VII ; Christ Church Deed, no. 369 ; Christ Church
Obits.

3 " Book of Howth," pp. 181-85. * Mem. Rolls, 12 Hen. VII.

«0 HOWTH AXD ITS OAVNEKS.

life he became much embroiled in disputes between the Butlers
and the Geraldines,^ and when Thomas Howard, Earl of Surrey,
afterwards Duke of Norfolk, was sent over in 1520 as Viceroy,
Nicholas is said to have been dismissed from the council on
that account, but to have been soon restored as one " above all
•other worthy to be of the King's privy council, and so continued
to his end."- His death took place on July 10, 1526.'

Nicholas is said to have been married three times, namely, to
Genet, daughter of one of the Lords of Killeen ; Anne, daughter
of Thomas Berford ;* and Alison, sister of Walter Fitzsimons, who
was Archbishop of Dublin from 1484 to 1511.* His last wife
appears to have been married to him in February, 1505, and to
have survived him.* By his first wife he had a son Christopher and
four daughters : Alison, who married, first, John Netterville of
Dowth, and, secondly, Patrick "White of Malassin ; Elizabeth, who
married Thomas Netterville, a Justice of the Common Pleas ;
Elinor, who married Sir Walter Cheevers of Macetown, and Anne,
who married Thomas Cusack of Gerardstown. By his second wife
he had two sons Almeric and Ptobert,'' and a daughter, Catherine,
who married Sir John Plunkett of Beaulieu. And by his third
wife he had a son Walter,* and a daughter, Marian, who married
first. Sir Christopher Nugent, secondly, Sir Gerald FitzGerald, and
thirdly, John Parker, who was sometiihe Master of the Eolls."

Christopher, who succeeded to the title and estate on his
father's death, was then a man of middle age, and had been long
married. His wife. Amy Bermingham, was a daughter of his
fatlier's second wife by a previous marriage, and through the
death of her brother she became owner of much property in
Dublin county, including Baldongan and the Ward.'" Before his

^ Letters and Papers, Hen. VIII ; iii and iv, passim.

« " Book of Howth," p. 191.

' l"'xchequer Inquisition, Co. Dublin, lien. VIII, no. 29.

* Of Kilrow, Co. Meath. She was widow of Bermingham of Baldongan.

* She was the daughter of Robert Fitz Simons, and widow of Nicholas Ciieevers.

* E.Kchequer Inquisition, Co. Dublin, Hen. VIII, no. 30. She is said to have
married secondly a Plunkett of Loughcrew.

' See infra. * See infra. ^ Repertory Chancery Decrees, Hen. VIII, no. 19.
i» Mem. Roll, 3 Hen. VIII.

IN PLANTAGENET AND TUDOR TIMES.

succession to Howth Christopher resided at Baldongan, and had
served as sheriff of his county, and had been knighted.' Not long
after his father's death he is said to have proceeded with a great
force against Brian O'Connor, Chief of Offaly, on his invading the
Pale, and taking prisoner the acting Lord Deputy, Lord Delvin ;
but he and his men had only to march back again, as Lord Delvin's
life was spared on condition that his capture should not be
avenged.* By Silken Thomas Christopher was regarded as a
dangerous opponent, and after the murder of Archbishop Alen
at Artain Christopher was himself taken prisoner at Howth by the

insurgents. It is said that during the anarchy that ensued on the-
rising Ilowth was spoiled by the O'Tooles and O'l^yrnes, and that-
the Castle would have been burned only for vigorous resistance on
the part of the occupants, who killed or wounded many of the-
raiders.^ But judging by Corr Castle, which was doubtless built

1 Mem. Roll, 8 & 16 Hen. VIII.

' " Book of Ilowth," p. 192 ; Mr. Bagwell's " Ireland under the Tudors," i, 151.

3 " Book of Howth," p. 193.

€2

HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

before then, the strength of the building played also a part in its
successful defence.

Like the other leading men in the Pale, Christopher assented
to Henry the Eighth's claim to supremacy in the Church, but no
spoil from the dissolved religious houses fell to him. He is
said by Lord Leonard Grey to have been, in common with other
Irish peers, deficient in " wit and men " ; but as few persons found
favour with Lord Leonard, little heed need be given to his judg-
ment.* He appears to have been active in the House of Lords,
and on the council, of which he was a member,- and was able to

RECESS ON THIRD fLOOR

Cork Castlk.

impress his individuality on the great English statesman of his
day, Thomas Cromwell, whose assistance he invoked in litigation,
in which he was involved with the Archbishop of Dublin,
concerning the ownership of Ireland's Eye, and which terminated
two days before Nicholas's death in a decree against him. The
letter in which he appealed to Cromwell was written in the winter
of 1537, not long after Lord Leonard had made his disparaging
report on the Irish nobility, and conveys the impression that
Christopher was well known to Cromwell, and had more claim
on his attention than could be secured by a gift of hawks which

* Letters and Papers, lien. VIII, vol. xii, j)t. i, no. 1066.
- Ibid., X, no. 938 ; xvi, nos. 9.3.5, 1044.

IN PLANTAGENET AND TUDOK TIMES. 63

accompanied the letter, and had probably been bred on Ireland's
Eye.^

In order probably to exhibit their acquiescence in the changes
of the time, Christopher's three sons, to whom his title passed in
succession, entered Lincoln's Inn as students at an unusually
late time of life. The eldest, Edward, entered in 1540, the second,
Eichard, in 1541, and the third, Christopher, in 1544.^^ At the time
of his admission Edward had been married twelve years, but he
submitted to the ordinary discipline of the Inn, and in the year
after his admission he was named as escheator, an officer chosen
from the students whose duty it was to provide fuel and torches
on special occasions. His youngest brother, Christopher, appears
to have remained long in residence, and ten years after his admission,
in the summer of 1554, he is mentioned as having incurred the
displeasure of the authorities by wearing a beard, which he was
ordered to remove within eleven days on pain of expulsion.' It is
impossible to say to what extent Christopher's sons were influenced
by the doctrines of the Reformed Church. The second, Eichard,
held the title during the closing years of Edward the Sixth's
reign and the whole of Queen Mary's, and seems to have
succeeded in serving both Sovereigns with equal fidelity and
acceptableness.

There is no doubt, however, that Christopher's uncle Thomas
St. Lawrence, who occupied a great position then in the govern-
ment of Ireland, was a strong opponent of the Reformation. After
a long residence in Lincoln's Inn, which he entered in 1503, and of
which he was still a member in 1515,* he returned to practise at
the bar of Ireland, and in 1532 was appointed Attorney-General.*
Two years later he was raised to the bench, as second Justice of
the King's Bench,* with a seat on the council, then a most unusual
honour for a puisne judge.'' His devotion to the Church had been

' Letters and Papers, vol. xii, pt. ii, no. 1194; Repertory Chancery Decrees, i,
6, 20; cf. Eutty's "Natural Hist, of Co. Dublin," i, 297.

- In 1537 a Ralph St. Lawrence had entered the Inn. See Appendix F.

3 Lincoln's Inn Register and Black Book, i, 258, 261, 310.

* Ibid., i, pp. 134, 176. ^ Morrin's Pat. Rolls, i, 5.

« Fiant, Hen. VIII, no. 44.

■^ Letters and Papers, Hen. NIU, passim; cf. Cal. S. P., Irel., 1586-88, p. 101.

64 HOWTH AND ITS OWXEES.

displayed at the time of the murder of Archbishop Alen, to whom
he had afforded refuge in the castle of Artain, which had come
into his possession as guardian of its owner, Thomas Holywood,
who was then a minor;' and although he continued on the bench
and on the council tliroughout the reign of Edward the Sixtli, lie
was foremost on the accession of Queen Mary in inciting a revolt
against the bishops appointed by her brother.- As his death took
place within a few months of her accession, he did not, however,
long enjoy her rule.*

Besides the three sons already mentioned, Christopher had a
fourth son called John, who appears in the year 1566 to have been
residing at Baldongan, and to have been leader of the militia in
that part of the county ;* and three daughters : Joan, who married
Eobert Preston of Ballimadon ;* Alison, who married first,
George FitzGerald, and secondly, William Heron ;* and Margaret,
who married a member of the Cashell family. Christopher's
brother, Almeric, appears to have survived him, and to have
occupied Killester, in respect of which an Almeric St, Lawrence
contributed to the hostings in the beginning of Queen Elizabeth's
reign.'' His two other brothers are remarkable as having
been respectively in tlie service of the heads of tlie rival
houses of FitzGerald and Butler. Eobert, who became summoner
of the Court of Exchequer, is mentioned as having been sent in
1516 by Gerald, ninth Earl of Kildare, with the head of the chief
of the O'Tooles to the mayor of Dublin, and as having been given
by that nobleman a hackney ;® and Walter figures in the will of
James, ninth Earl of Ormond, made in 1543, as his " right well-

1 Cal. S. P., Carew, 1515-74, p. 100. Moriin's Pat. Rolls, i, 2.

2 Mr. Bagwell's " Ireland under the Tudors," i, 386.
' Exchequer Inquisitions, Co. Dublin, Mary, no. 1.

•Haliday Manuscripts, pp. 178, 179. In 1556 a John Ilowth is mentioned as
husband of Phelix Thole: in 1561 a John Howth of Dublin sued Ann Howth of
Portmarnock for bark ; and in 1664 a John Howth of Dublin had a cow stolen from
him. Chancery Decrees, Phil, and Mary, no. 28 ; Eliz., no. 43 ; Fiant, Eliz., no. 592.

* Fiant, Eliz., no. 5020.

* Ibid., nos. 3683, 4315.

' Haliday Manuscripts, pp. 13, 162.

8 Fiant, Hen. VIII, no. 49 ; Warburton, "Whitelaw, and Walsh's " Hist, of
Dublin," i, 185; "Hist. MSS. Com. Kept.," is, pt. ii, p. 282.

IN PLANTAGEXET AND TUDOR TIMES. 65

beloved servant," to whom he bequeathed an annuity of twenty
nobles.'

Edward, who succeeded to the title and estate on the death of
his father, which took place on April 20, 1542, has left no mark
on the history of his time. He appears to have resided prior to
his succession to the title at Baldongan, and owned in right of his
wife, Alison, daughter of James FitzLyons, much property in
the counties of Dublin and Meath. She was allied to him in a
prohibited degree, and before their marriage, which took place in
1528, a licence had to be obtained.^ By her Edward had a son,
Richard, who died as a child, and two daughters, Anne, who
married Bartholomew Dillon of Keppoch,^ and Alison, who married
her cousin John Golding. In 1545 Edward is mentioned as a
member of the council, and in the same year he obtained a decree
against the Corporation of Drogheda in a suit touching the
ownership of *' seven stone shops " near the bridge of that town.*
His death took place on July 2, 1549, in Dublin.

Richard, who succeeded as heir presumptive on his brother's
death, had resided previously at the Ward.* He proved himself
eminent as a soldier, and was a leader in all the military expedi-
tions of his day. He had probably seen service first under
Lord Deputy Bellingham, who, as an ancient retainer of the
Howth family has recorded,^ " wore ever his harness as did all
those whom he liked of," and he was sent by Bellingham's
successor, Sir James Croft, into Lecale with a hundred horse to
banish the Scots.'' It was probably his knowledge of Richard
that led Bellingham to select Howth as the place of his departure
in the winter of 1549, when he sailed from Ireland never to
return ; and possibly the same reason led Croft, three years later,

'Lodge's " Peerage," iii, 192. Cf. Letters and Papers, Henry VIII, vol. xii,
pt. i, no. 920.

2 Lodge's " Peerage," iii. 193, 195. ^ Fiant Eliz., no. 3000.

^Letters and Papers, Hen. VIII, vol. xxi, pt. i, nos. 427, 920: Repertory-
Chancery Decrees,!, 14. According to D'AIton, "Hist, of Co, Dublin," p. 136,
Donald Dubh, head of the MacDonald elan, died in Edward's time at Howth, but
according to the " Die. Nat. Biog.," xxxv, 39, he died at Drogheda.

5 Fiants, Edw. VI, nos. 157, 493. « " Book of Howth,",p. 195.

' Haliday Manuscripts, p. 281.

G6 HOWTH AND ITS OWXEKS.

in the winter of 1552, to follow Bellingham's example.' In
annals compiled by the ancient retainer, who had been Richard's
foster-father,^ it is recorded that in 1553 Kichard attacked with
only a small force the great Shane O'Neill when the latter was
preparing to invade the Pale, and that a few days later Richard
penetrated into O'Neill's country and carried off' much prey.
Further military service on Richard's part is indicated by a pardon
to a number of soldiers which was granted in 1555, and in which
he appears as their commander.^ On his arrival as chief
governor in 1556 the Earl of Sussex recognized Richard's capacity,
and assigned him the command of the rear of his ainiy in his
first expedition against the Scots, to which Richard contributed in
respect of his tenure of Howth four mounted archers/ Of that
command the jealousy of Marshal Bagenal deprived him, with
very lamentable results, says the Howth annalist, to those whom
he led. At Glenarm, however, during a night " terrible of wind,
of rain, of hail, of thunder, and of wild fire," Richard's opportunity
came, and he crowned himself with glory in a raid on the enemy's
herds.*

But in civil life Richard was also prominent, and acted as a
commissioner of gaol delivery on one occasion in the counties of
Meath, Kildare, and Westmeath. He was a justice of the peace
for the county of Meath as well as for the county of Dublin, and
was also entrusted with the levying of subsidy. In the summer
of 1558 he was appointed by the Earl of Sussex, who when going
to England in the previous December had selected Howth as his
place of embarkation, to be one of the guardians of the Pale ; and
owing to the vigilance shown by him and Viscount Baltinglass
" no harm there was committed."" Like his father he was
involved in litigation with the Church, in respect of the tithe of
the parish of Ward which the rector of Finglas claimed, and like

1 Fiants, Edw. VI, iios. 426, 1162.
- " Book of Howth," p. 195.

* Fiants, Philip and Mary, no. 86.

♦ "Book of Hosvth," p. 197; Haliday Manuscripts, p. 13.

' "Book of Howth," p. 198 ; cf. Cal. S. P., Carew, 1515-74, p. 261.

• Moniu's Pat. Rolls, pa.'isim; Fiants, Philip and Mary, no. 222; Cal. S. P.,
Carew, 1515-74, p. 278 ; " Book of Howth," p. 199.

IN PLANTAGENET AND TUDOR TIMES.

his father was defeated/ He married the Dame Catherine
EitzGerald,- but appears to have had no children. His death took
place in the autumn of 1558, probably at Drogheda, where a
monument to his memory formerly stood in the Cord Cemetery.'

1 Repertory Chancery Decrees, i, 47 ; cf. Acts of Privy Council, 1556-58, p. 71.
- She married as a second Imsband Nicholas "Wogan of Rathcoffy. Chancery
Decree, Eliz., no. 102.

^ D'Alton's " Hist, of Drogheda," i, 119. See for cadets at. that period Appendix F.

( 68 )

CHAPTER V.

UNDER ELIZABETH.

A STORY of an heir of the house of Howth having been carried off
by a Sea Queen to the western shores of Ireland, and of his
ransom having been a promise of perpetual hospitality in the hails
of Howth Castle, is widely known. In the popular imagination
it is the most important event in the history of Howth, and forms
a link between the peninsula and the Virgin Queen, in whose
reign the Sea Queen flourished. The Sea Queen, Graina Uaile by
name, was a most remarkable woman, who fulfilled the motto of
her race, terra marique potens, and was able to impress not only
the Irish Government, but also Elizabeth herself, with a sense of
her power.^ The story tells that about the year 1575, on her
return from a visit to Elizabeth, Graina Uaile landed at Howth, and
proceeded as far as the Castle gates, which she found closed. On
learning that the gates were closed because it was the dinner hour,,
she is said to have expressed great indignation at what she con-
sidered a dereliction of Irish hospitality, and meeting on her way
back to her ship the heir of the house, who was then a child, she
retaliated, according to the tradition, by seizing him and carrying
him off to her home in the county of Mayo, where he was detained
until a promise was given that the gates should never be shut
again at dinner-time, and that a place should always be laid at the
table for a guest.

Modern research has shown that the date of Graina Uaile's
visit to Elizabeth's court was eighteen years later than that
assigned to it in the story,' and the story has been therefore
deemed to be unfounded. But without direct evidence to controvert
it, tradition should not be lightly set aside, and the possibility
that an incident such as the tradition relates may have occurred

' See " History and Archaeology ot Clare Island," by T. J. Westropp, m.a., p. 41,
et passim. • Ibid., \). ■±'1.

UNDER ELIZABETH. 69

is beyond dispute. Although she did not go to Elizabeth's court
at the time mentioned, " the dark lady of Doona " did come a year
later to Dublin to see Elizabeth's representative, Sir Henry
Sidney ;^ and at that time the heir to Howth in the second genera-
tion was a child. For many generations a picture in Howth
Castle was believed to represent the abduction of the heir,* but it
is now said to represent the flight of the Israelites from Egypt.
It shows a group of men and women in the midst of cattle, sheep,
and dogs, and has as its principal subject a woman mounted on a
white horse, who is receiving an infant into her arms, while above
them the sky opens, and a figure appears in the clouds.

But, apart from this story, Howth affords an interesting study
•during the Elizabethan period. Its town was then accounted one
•of the largest and best in the county ;' and its port, which
was provided with a quay,* continued to be used for passenger,
and to some extent mercantile, traffic. At Howth several of the
•chief governors in Elizabeth's reign are recorded to have either
embarked or disembarked. There on two occasions, in 1561
and 1562, her first Lord Lieutenant, the Earl of Sussex, took ship
for England,' and there after appointment to the office of chief
-governor, in 1594 Sir William Russell, and in 1600 Lord
Mountjoy landed.* From Howth, amongst other places, Elizabeth's
Master of the Rolls, John Parker,' who was a great promoter of
Irish industries, was given licence in 1564 to export wool f and in
the same year a ship that had been engaged in piratical exploits
•was ordered to be delivered to a tenant of Lord Howth to use in

1 "History and Archaeology of Clare Island," p. 41. It 'W'ill be seen at this
reference (note 5) that Duald Mac Firbis, in his "Great Bi)ok of Genealogies,"
■assigns the incident to the fifteenth century, and says that it was Hichard O'Cuairsci,
or Richard of the Bent Shield, who, between 1469 and 1479, " took the Lord of Benn
Etar and brought him to Tyrawley."

- "Warburton, Whitelaw, and Walsh's "Hist, of Dublin," ii, 1258. A plaster
Tepresentation of the incident, which is also preserved in Howth Castle, is modern.

3 " Description of Ireland in 1598," ed. by Eev. E. Hogan, p. 37.

* Cal. S. P., Irel., 1606-08, p. 269.

* " Liber Munerum," pt. ii, p. 3.

* Cal. S. P., Carew, 1589-1600, p. 221 ; Irel., 1599-1600, p. 499.

^ He has been already mentioned as husband of a daughter of the house of Howth.
■Supra, p. 60. 8 Fiant, Eliz., no. 92.

70 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

the Queen's service.' Towards the close of Elizabeth's reign
Spanish pirates made themselves much dreaded; and in 1592,.
about harvest time, one lay without interference near Howth,
watching for one of the Queen's ships, called the " Popinjay," and
finally sailed triumphantly through the sound of Dalkey, and took
two English ships.'- As appears from references to two shipwrecks
at Uowth, the peninsula was regarded in Elizabeth's reign as a
great danger in the navigation of ships coming to Dul)lin. The
first of these shipwrecks, which occurred in 1560, involved the loss-
of the " Michael of Hilboy," and much merchandise ; and the
second, which occurred in 1579, resulted in the loss of nine
passengers and their horses.^

At the beginning of Elizabeth's reign comfort began to be
considered by the owner of Howth, and a mansion was added to
the ancient keep. This mansion was, no doubt, of a semi-fortified
type, like the castle of Eathfarnham, which was erected some years
later by Archbishop Loftus. Though probably not all occupying
their original place, three tablets, which were affixed near it, still
remain at Howth. They bear the St. Lawrence arms impaled with
those of the Plunketts. To a daughter of that house the Lord
Howth of Elizabeth's time was married, and the largest of the three
tablets has, as well as their arms, their initials and an inscription :
IDNS DEVS MISEIJIT*' NEI (probably Standing for Jesus Dominus
Deus miseritus est nostri). This tablet, which boi-e also formerly
the date 1564,* is over an arched gateway, through which the
stable-yard is entered from the north, and it seems not improbable
that an entrance to the courtyard of the Castle was constructed in
1564 at this point to supersede the use of the vaulted passage
tlirough the mediaeval gateway tower, which aftbrded little room
for vehicles. What portions of the present buildings date from^
that time cannot be determined with certainty, but the hall and
kitchen appear to have been amongst them.

With the exception of the Archbishop of Dublin, the Lord of

' Haliday Manuscripts, p. 148.

2 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1592-96, p. 93.

2 Repertory Chancery Decrees, i, 77 ; Cal. S. P., Irel., 1574-8'), p. 195.

♦ Warburton, Whitelaw, and Walsh's "Hist, of Dublin," ii, 1258.

UNDER ELIZABETH.

Howth was then the first of " the men of power and name " in the
county ,1 and his possessions in it were extensive and far-reaching.
To the north lay his manor of Baldongan, with the lands of Rogers-
town and Balscadden, and to the west his manor of Ward ; while
the manor of Howth had attached to it the lands of Kilbarrack
and Killester, besides scattered holdings in other places.^

j;ffi:n;:iiir^fq

^y.

.^' ^

1'=^:

^Hf^.

Gateway and Tablet.

Christopher, who succeeded in 1558 to the title and estate on
the death of his brother Richard, is the most striking figure in
the line of the Lords of Howth during the sixteenth century. His
force of character is shown in the fact that his nomination to the
council was simultaneous with his succession to the title,' and

1 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1601-03, et Add., p. 697 ; Carew, 1601-03, p. 447.

' Lodges " Peerage," iii, 198. 3 Moriin's Pat. EoUs. i, 396.

72 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

that his assistance in the government of Ireland was considered
indispensable by most of those to whom Elizabeth entrusted the
sword.' Of his early life little is known. As has been already
mentioned, he became in 1544 a student of Lincoln's Inn, and as
late as 1554 he appears to have been a member of it, but in 1556
he is mentioned in connexion with the Ward,- and was then
resident there, as his brother Richard had been prior to his
succession to the title. He must have been then married for
more than ten years. ^ His wife, Elizabeth Plunkett, was a
daughter of Sir John Plunkett of Beaulieu, and possibly a house
in the parish of Eaheny, which her father is said to have held in
1551, from Lord Howth, mav have had some connexion with their
marriage.*

The ability of the blind lord, as Christopher was called,
probably from defective eyesight, seems to have been chiefly shown
in the capacities of a counsellor and diplomatist. For the first
twelve years of Elizabeth's reign his name is constantly appended
to the proclamations as a member of the council, at which his first
appearance was made in December, 1558, when the news of
Queen Mary's death arrived. In 1561 he was employed by the
Earl of Sussex to carry on negotiations with Shane O'Neill,* and
in the winter of 1562 he was sent by Sussex, with two other
members of the council, to discuss with Elizabeth and her ministers
the measures to be taken in the government of Ireland.* Accord-
ing to the Book of Howth,'' the latter mission was one which
others were reluctant to undertake, and required no small talent
as a courtier. It was only by much perseverance that the three
messengers carried their point with the Queen, and it is evident
that they had no little difficulty in overcoming her antipathy to
them on the ground of their Irish birth, which was revealed at
the first audience, by her asking Lord Howth if he was able to speak
the English tongue. By Lord Justice Arnold the blind lord was
no less trusted than by Lord Sussex, and he was one of those

' Haliday Manuscri[)ts, jorMsiw. ^ Morrin's Pat. Rolls, ii, 176.

•* His son was of niairiageable age in 1559. See infra.

* D'Alton'a "Hist, of Co. Dublin," p. 109.

5 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1509-73, p. 175. « Ibid., pp. 210, 213. '' p. 201.

UNDER ELIZABETH. 73

employed by him to hold a parley with the chief of the O'lieilly
clan on the borders of the Pale.^ Later on Sir Henry Sidney,
while Lord Deputy, made use of him in further negotiations with
O'Neill.^

But he had a reputation also as a man of action, and before a
general hosting against Shane O'Neill in the autumn of 1560, he
was appointed " chief and general captain " of the forces in Dublin
county.* To this hosting he contributed in respect of Howth, in
addition to his own services, three men and transport.* In 1563
he accompanied the Earl of Sussex on one of his journeys to the
North, and rendered him notable assistance. With the help of
the men of Dublin he brought Sussex safely through the dangerous
Moyrie Pass, near Newry, and he was one of the commanders at
Dungannon in an engagement with O'Neill, which lasted all day
until " the woods so rang with the shot that it was strange to hear."^
Again, three years later, in 1556, in a general hosting against
Shane O'Neill, under Sir Henry Sidney, he is found serving in
person and contributing six archers on horseback, and is reported
to have done good service in exacting retribution for the burning
of many villages and districts in the Pale.®

The Government did all they could to bind to them the blind
lord and his relations, who were then regarded as " people of
very great birth, alliance, kindred, riches, and friendship."' Soon
after his succession to Howth, in !May, 1561, Queen Elizabeth
announced her intention of confirming to him his title, and nine
years later, in February, 1570, Lord Deputy Sidney conferred
on him at Drogheda the honour of knighthood.^ But a time came
when the interests of the Government and those of the chief men
of the Pale conflicted, and, notwithstanding the efforts of the

' Haliday Manuscripts, p. 142; cf. Cal. S. P., IreL, 1509-73, p. 276, and
Mr. Bagwell's "Ireland under the Tudors," ii, 50.
2 "Book of Howth," p. 205.

* Haliday Manuscripts, p. 86.
* /Airf., pp. 89, 91.

* Cal. S. P., Carew, 1515-74, p. 349 ; " Book of Howth," p. 201.
« Haliday Manuscripts, p. 162; Cal. S. P., IreL, 1509-73, p. 319.
"> Lodge's "Peerage," iii, 195.

8 Cal. S. P., Carew, 1515-74, p. 311 : Shaw's "Knights of England," ii, 74.

74 HOWTH ANL> ITS OWKERS.

Government to attach him to their side, the blind lord was found
foremost in defence of his own class.

To the part taken by him in the conflict there are many-
references in the Book of Howth. As a note in it records, it
belonged to him ;' and in the opinion of Dr. Round* it was com-
piled under his direction, and contains references to himself,
which, although written in the third person, are his own com-
position. As appears from it, as well as from the state papers,
the conflict became in a great degree a personal one between the
chief men of the Pale and the Lord Deputy, Sir llenry Sidney.
" This Sir Harry," says the Book of Howth,' " was very severe
and upright in judgment, and yet a friendly gentleman to his
own friends, very courteous, sober, wise, and free of his own nature,
so was he when he would be in a rage a very lion in speech, and
soon after appeased when he did call himself to remembrance, as
witnessed the Lord of Howth." This occasion was no doubt one
on which the Lord Deputy endeavoured to force the chief men of
the Pale to submit to taxation in consideration of the Crown
forgoing its right to call a hosting : " the first day the Lord
Deputy was in a great rage, and threatened the gentleman to the
Castle of Dublin, but the morrow after, the Lord Deputy did well
allow the gentleman's request, and did confess that he and the
council did commit an error, and so promised upon his honour
the like should not be in his time."*

But in the next encounter, which concerned the right of the
Crown to levy cess without the assent of Parliament, the Lord
Deputy proved the victor. It came to a head in 1576, when the
blind lord and the other chief men of the Pale laid their
cause before the privy council in England, continued through-
out the next year, when they were for a short time prisoners in
the Castle of Dublin, and terminated in 1578, when they were
for five months kept in close confinement in the same place.*
During the latter imprisonment " the charges of diet and fees "

1 p. 260, n. §. ■>■ "The Antiquary," vii, 196-99.

' " Book of Howth," p. 527. ■• Ihid., v. 209.

* Cal. S. P., Caiew, 1575-88, arid Irel., 1574-85, passim ; Marquis of Salisbury's
Manuscripts, ii, 154 ; Earl of Egmoni's Manuscripts, i, 8 ; " Book of Uowth," p. 214..

v ■ 1

"■■^

U
X

m^.^'.

UNDEll ELIZABETH. 75

pressed heavily upon them, and a sample of those paid by
the blind lord has been thought worthy of preservation in the
Book of Howth :' " his confinement 40^. ; his diet for twenty-eight
days £14 13s., by composition at 2'2d. sterling per diem £12 12s.
sterling."

Throughout these proceedings the blind lord is represented
by the Book of Howth as the spokesman for his fellows.^ But
they are admitted not to have been in every instance as amenable
to his leading as could have been desired ; and in the contention
about enforcing taxation in lieu of a hosting, " one of the greatest
as he thought himself," Sir Christopher Barnewall, of Turvey, is
said on the first day to have recanted, and to have complained
that " the Lord of Howth spoke more than was desired him to
speak." At " that gentleman's word " the others are said to have
been grieved, and the moral is drawn that " every man should
beware to speak for the commons, for some one will halt and
flatter, as there it did appear by this gentleman."^

The disagreement between the blind lord and Sir Christopher
Barnewall may have had its origin in private as well as in
public concerns. A year after his succession to the title the
blind lord had entered into an agreement with Sir Christopher
Barnewall that his eldest son, Nicholas, should marry a daughter
of Sir Christopher Barnewall's called Margaret, and that Sir
Christopher Barnewall's eldest son, Patrick, as soon as he reached
the age of fourteen, should marry his daughter Mary.* But, although
apparently married to the young lady assigned to him at the
appointed time, Patrick Barnewall proved recalcitrant, and finally
instituted, in 1579, proceedings for a dissolution of the marriage,
which was granted.^ For the fulfilment of the agreement Sir
Christopher Barnewall had bound himself in the sum of a thousand
pounds, and the blind lord felt the breach of covenant so strongly
as to impose on his son the obligation of recovering half the
amount specified in the bond, which, as will be seen, his son did.

At the time the divorce proceedings were instituted by

' p. 217. » "Book of Howth," p. 209. 3 Ihid., p. 209.

* Chancery Decree, Eliz. no. 633. » Fjant, Eliz., no. 3558.

76 HOWTH AND ITS OWNEKS.

Patrick Barnewall, the blind lord's relations with his own wife
liad become so unhappy as to lead to their separation. In 1578
he was ordered to pay her eight pounds a month until the variance
should be ended ;^ and in the following year charges of infidelity,
and even cruelty, led to proceedings against him in the Castle
Chamber, which corresponded to the Star Chamber in England.
On his first appearance in that court, in the month of May, 1579,
the blind lord secured the conviction of one of his servants for
perjury in allegations of immorality which he had made against
him, but two months later he was himself convicted of beating his
wife with great barbarity because she had protested against " his
dissolute life." In addition, he was convicted of beating one of
his daughters until, it is said, he caused an ague, from which she
■died, and also of beating one of his servants who had sought to
befriend his wife.^ Fines to the amount of a thousand pounds
were imposed, and their non-payment led to his imprisonment for
more than six months, when he was only released " to save the
word of the Lord Chancellor," with whom he had negotiations that
are not clearly explained.^

With Lord Deputy Perrot, in the year 1585, the contest about
the cess was renewed, and accusations of ill-faith were made
against him by the blind lord and other Irish peers. Subsequently
the blind lord retracted what he had said, and 'as one of the last
acts of his life he sent a present of an intermewed goshawk to
Perrot.^ Three weeks before the mention of his present to Perrot,
on August 16, 1589, the blind lord had made his will,* and
probate of it was granted on November 20 following, just a
month after his death, which took place on October 24, 1589.
The sole member of his family named in it is his eldest son,
and it was his wish that no one except his said son should
" intermeddle with his goods and chattels." Besides his son, he
mentioned his servant, Richard Hanlon, to whom he left a farm

> Hist. MSS. Corn., Kept. 15, App. iii, p. 287.

2 Earl of Egmont's Manuscripts, i, 11.

^ Cal. of S. P., Carew, 1575-88, 157, 223.

* Cal. of S. P., Irel., 158G-88, pp. 9, 20 ; 1538-92, p. 235.

5 In the Prerogative Collection.

UNDER ELIZABETH. 77

and some live stock ; his page, Lawrence, to whom he left his grey
horse and his cape, which was of the same colour ; and one
Belle White, to whom he left a house for her life.

It was by the blind lord, as has been seen, that a mansion
house was added to the ancient keep, and Howth Castle, as we
know it to-day, is probably a monument to his energy and
pre-eminence amongst its owners under the Tudor and Stewart
dynasties. He has been described by Dr. Round' as a typical
Elizabethan gentleman, and in a careful analysis which Dr. Round
has made of his part in the compilation of the Book of Howth,
attention is specially drawn to the pride which he took in his
family. It is manifested in the Book of Howth by reference to a
conversation with gentlemen in Sir Henry Sidney's train, who
excelled in heraldry, about noble Englishmen in Ireland ;' and it
is further proved by his erection of the mansion, and by his
placing near it the tablets with his own and the Plunkett arms.
In addition, he appears to have built a house at Raheny as a
dower house, and placed on it a tablet, which has been lately
brought from Raheny to Howth Castle, and which bears, like
the tablets already mentioned, the St. Lawrence and Plunkett
arms impaled, with the initials C. and E., and the date, 1572. In
addition to the blind lord's pride in his family, Dr. Round draws
attention to his avidity in gathering information, which was-
combined with a remarkable want of historical perspective and
extraordinary credulity, and to his resentment of insinuations of
disloyalty in the case of the Anglo-Irish.

His will is prefaced by a more than formal acknowledgment-
of his un worthiness : " First I bequeath my soul to Almighty God,
my maker and my redeemer, whom I, most cruel and wicked
sinner, have diversely offended and transgressed His law and
commandments, for which I, with all humility and penitence

1 <' The Antiquary," vii, 19S.

2 " Book of Howth," p. 21. No doubt the bliud lord's informant was chiefly the
Rev. Robert le Conimaundre, rector of Tarporley in Cheshire, who came in Sir Henry
Sidney's train, and is known as the author of a valuable manusci'ipt entitled the ' ' Book
of Heraldry and Other Things." See C. Litton Falkiner's " Essays relating to Ireland,"
p. 208.

78 HOWTH AXD ITS OWNEKS.

therefor, most willingly crave mercy and pardon, and beseech
Him to be merciful unto me, and forgive me my sins and wicked-
ness." But at the same time his life would appear to have been
one of much public usefulness, and until the year of his death his
name was included in all the commissions for taking the muster
and keeping the peace in his county. The charges against him of
cruelty can hardly have been baseless, but his misconduct was
probably a temporary ebullition of passion. His early life with
Elizabeth Plunkett seems to have been happy. As has been seen,
he was careful that she should be commemorated as well as
himself in all his undertakings, and the blessing of a quiver over-
flowinrf with children was not wanting. It is also certain that on
her death, the date of which is unknown, another lady, Cecily,
daughter of Henry Cusack, an alderman of Dublin, was found
willing to take her place.^ Writing in the lifetime of the blind
lord, Stanihurst says^ that the " Baron of Howth, signifying the
disposition of his mind, speaketh in this wise :

" Si redamas, redaino, si spernis, sperno. Quid eigo?
" Non licet absque tuis vivere posse bonis r "

The blind lord had no less than fourteen children, but of these
only four sons, Nicholas, Thomas, Leonard, and Kichard, and one
daughter, Margaret, are known to have survived him. Thomas
appears to have been killed on October 2, 1600, in an engagement
between the forces of the Crown and those of O'Neill at the
Moyrie Pass.' Leonard, who in a funeral entry is mentioned as
the blind lord's third son, died on November 7, 1608, having made
a will on the preceding day,* in which he refers to his wife, Ann
Eustace, and his daughter Elizabeth, and shows his devotion to

1 She married secondly John Barnewall of Monkton in co. Meath and thirdly
John Fiiiglas of Wt'stpalstown in co. Dublin. To her will, which is dated August 1,
1635, she appended on August 12, 1636, a codicil which she desired should have " the
same force, vigour, and virtue in law.'' In it she directed that her executrix should
keep her month's mind and year's mind according to the usual custom of the country,
and should bestow some alms "at those terms " upon the poor, and expressed her
M-ish that her will should not be perused by many but by "such as it doth concern,
and that after her burial." Cf. Chancery Decree, Eliz., no. G85 ; Jac. I, no. 110.

* Ilolinshed's " Chronicles," vi, 65.

3 Cal. S. P., Carew, 1601-03, p. 496.

■* It is preserved in the Dublin Collection.

UNDER ELIZABETH. 79

agricultural life by mention of his " choice cow " and of his sheep, as
well as of his ploughman, to whom he leaves " a couple of corn."
Richard is referred to in 1575 in connexion with a deposition
made by him against the Earl of Kildare,' and was one of the
beneficiaries under his brother Leonard's will; and Margaret is
also named in her brother Leonard's will as the recipient of his
*' stone jug double gilt." In 1583 she was residing at Derindell,
and was apparently then unmarried, but she was married twice,
first to "William Fitzwilliam of Donamore, and secondly to Michael
Berford of Kilrow, who died before 1603. She died February 16,
1620.-

Nicholas Lord Howth, who succeeded the blind lord as his
eldest son, had been knighted a year before his father's death, in
May, 1588,^ and was at that time a man well advanced in years,
with many children. He had been twice married, first, as has
been already mentioned, to Margaret, daughter of Sir Christopher
Barnewall, of Turvey, and, secondly, to Mary, daughter of Sir
Nicholas White, of St. Catherine's, His second wife had been
previously married to Christopher Darcy of Flatten, and before his
succession to the title Nicholas had for a time resided at the latter
place. In 1583 and 1584, when he was appointed a commissioner
for the muster in the county of Meath, he is described as of
Flatten, and subsequently, in 1587, as of Osbertstown.*

Like his father, Nicholas was devoted to the interests of the
Fale, and did not always find it easy to reconcile that tie with
the requirements of the Government — a difficulty which was
accentuated in his case by his more or less open profession of the
Roman Catholic religion. A few months after his father's death
he was appointed a guardian of the Pale during the temporary
absence of the Lord Deputy, Sir William Fitzwilliam, in the west
of Ireland f but he was soon afterwards alienated from the
Government by joining in charges made against the Chief Justice
of the Common Fleas, Sir Robert Dillon. The originators of these

1 Cal. S. P., Iiel., 1574-88, p. 72.

- Cf. Funeral Entry and Chancery Decrees, Eliz. no. 331, 753,

3 Shaw's " Knights of England," ii, 86.

* Fiants, Eliz., 4149, 4461, 5019, 5084. = Fiant, Eliz., 5387.

80 HOVV^TH AND ITS OWNERS.

charges were members of the Nugent family, to whom Nicholas
was distantly related,' but he was probably induced to take the
part he did by his father-in-law, Sir Nicholas White, who com-
plained that the malice of Sir Robert Dillon against him knew no
end.' Nicholas is first mentioned in connexion with the charges
against Sir Eobert Dillon in the year 1591,' and for the next two
years was constantly in the company of Lord Delvin, the head of
the Nugent family. They appear signing letters together at
Lord Delvin's seat in Westmeath,^ attending together before the
council,* and collecting evidence together at Howth.* Lord Delvin
speaks in one of his letters of injuries done to Nicholas by
Lord Deputy Fitzwilliam,^ but Nicholas does not seem to have
harboured any feeling of resentment, and is recorded to have
exclaimed on an offer from the Lord Deputy to leave them alone
with the council : "No, God forbid, my Lord, that we should mistrust
your Lordship in any matter that concerns the Queen."*

Under the next Lord Deputy, Sir William Russell, Nicholas
re-established himself in the good opinion of the Government, and
gave proof of his loyalty to the Crown. He had the good fortune
to be the first to greet Sir William Russell, as Sir William landed
at Howth, and also passed the night of his arrival, July 31, 1594,
in the Castle ;' and in the following February, on Sir William
Russell's return from an expedition against the O'Byrnes, Nicholas
was foremost in offering congratulations and assistance.^" His
assistance was accepted, and two months later he accompanied
Sir William Russell on a further expedition against the
O'Byrnes," and rendered such service as entitled him to the
thanks of the Queen. '-

• By the marriage of Marian, daughter of Niehohis l.ord Howth, (d. 1526), to
Sir Christojilier Nugent. There is a curious genealogical tree made by Lord Burghley
showing the descent from that marriage. See Cal. S. P., Irel., 1601-03, et Add.
p. 650.

' Cal. S. P., Irel., 1588-92, pp. 256, 276. 3 j^i^,^ p. 412.

* Ibid., pp. 419, 445; 1592-96, p. 102.

5 Cal. S. P., Carew, 1589-1600, p. 02 ; S. P., Irel., 1592-96, passim.

« Cal. S. P., Carew, 1589-1600, p. 79.

' Cal. S. P., Irel., 1588-92, p. 576. « Ibid., 1592-96, p. 23.

9 Cal. S. P., Carew, 1589-1600, p. 221. i« Ibid., p. 227.

11 Ibid., p. 228. 12 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1592-96, p. 317.

UNDER ELIZABETH. 81

During the rising under Tyrone the Government received
from him great support. In the autumn of 1598 he was one of
the few men of the Pale who came to their aid,^ and he was given
then a commission with the Sheriff to execute martial law in his
county.^ A year later he was the only one to respond to a call
upon the militia, and brought to the assistance of the army
two hundred foot and horse that he had raised. These troops were
so deficient in equipment as to be useless, but in a parley that
ensued with Tyrone his advice proved of value, and contributed to
securing a truce. Of all the men of the Pale, the Lords Justices
said, he was the only one deserving of notice, and a letter of
thanks to him in the Queen's name was suggested as " a comfort
and an encouragement."'

At the same time his eldest son, Christopher, who succeeded
him, was making a name for himself and bringing additional
distinction to the house of Howth. He is first mentioned as
serving in the spring of 1595 with his father against the O'Byrnes,
of whom he effected a notable capture.* The greater portion of
the next year he spent in England at the Queen's court, and
during that time he appears to have been knighted.* He returned
to Ireland, where he landed in January, 1597, with a commission
in the regular army, and was subsequently appointed commander
of the garrison at Cavan, with a fee of ten shillings per
day.® Power to execute martial law was entrusted to him, and
in a letter from Lord Dunsany, who married a sister of his mother,
there is reference to the good services rendered by him on the
border of Cavan.' During the spring of 1598 he was engaged
against Tyrone's confederates in Leinster, and acquitted himself so
well that his valour was brought under the notice of the privy
council in England, with a suggestion that an assurance of their
" thankful acceptance of his service " might be sent to him.* He

1 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1598-99, p. 342. - Fiant, Elizabeth, no. 6260.

3 Cal. S. P., Iiel., 1599-1600, pp. 284, 292, 298.

* Cal. S. P., Carew, 1589-1600, pp. 229, 230.

* Marquis of Salisbury's Manuscripts, vi, 214, 558.

6 Cal. S. P., Carew, 1589-1600, p. 254 ; Irel., 1598-99, p. 5.

7 Fiant, Elizabeth, no. 6164 ; Marquis of Salisbury's Manuscripts, vii, 475.

8 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1598-99, p. 121.

82 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

continued throughout that year to assist in the operations against
Tyrone's confederates, and in the winter was sent to the relief
of Maryborough, and subsequently was stationed at Kells.'

When the Earl of Essex landed in Ireland in April, 1599, Sir
Christopher St. Lawrence was in command of the garrison at
Naas, with authority to execute martial law over a large extent of
country,' and thence accompanied Essex in May on his expedition
to suppress the rebellion in southern Ireland. During that
expedition he performed two gallant exploits. The first was near
Athy, where he swam across the river Barrow to rescue horses
that had been carried off from the army, and returned in triumph
with the horses and the head of one of the marauders, and the
second was at Cahir, where he was instrumental in preventing
the escape of the garrison. lie accompanied Essex also in
August on his ill-starred expedition to Ulster, and is mentioned
while at Niselerathy, near Louth, as being in command of five
hundred horse and fifty foot.^ At that time, in commending a
suit which Sir Christoplier made to the Queen and her privy
council, Essex, who had possibly made his acquaintance in
England, speaks of him as " a very gallant, able servant to her
Majesty, and his own dear and worthy friend 'V and in the
following September he communicated to him his secret departure
from Ireland, and gave him a place amongst the few who attended
him to Elizabeth's court.

Sir Christopher St. Lawrence possessed a typical Irish char-
acter, and was no less impulsive than brave. In the autumn of
1598 " it was current both in court and country above ten days
together" that he had slain Sir Samuel Bagenal about "the lie
or such like brabble " ;* and while on the way with Essex to the
Palace of Nonsuch, he is said to have proposed to engage in
single combat Lord Grey de Wilton and Sir Eobert Cecil, whom

» Cal. S. v., Irel., 15!)8-99, pp. 411, 457. ^ Fiants Eliziibelh, nos. 6281, 6282.

3 Cal. S. r., Irel., 1599-lGOO, pp. 57, 58, 14G; Carew, 1589-1600, pp. 304
323; Ilanington's " Nugae Amiquae," ed. T. Park, pp. 270, 277, 298 ; Marquis of
Salisbury's Manuscripts, ix, 145, 147, 148.

* Marquis of Salisbury's Manuscripts, ix, 287.

^ Jobn Chamberlain's Letters, ed. Sarah Williams, p. 23 ; Cal. S. P., Doni.,
1598-1601, p. 110.

X
H

UNDER ELIZABETH. 83

Essex had reason to believe were hostile to him, the former on
the road and the latter in the sacred precincts of the Court.' A
few weeks after Essex had been committed to the care of the Lord
Keeper, Sir Christopher pledged publicly Essex's health and his
enemies' confusion, and on being called to account, not only stood
to his words, but also said that he would fulfil his promise if
anyone attempted to disparage Essex's character. According to
rumour at the time, " Lord Treasurer did school him, but nothing
else was done to him," and a courtier, who took him to task while
he was in bed, discreetly retired on being informed by Sir
Christopher that what he had said " he would maintain with his
sword in his shirt against any man." "^

Meantime Sir Christopher and the other Irishmen who had
accompanied Essex were received by the Queen, and, although
told that they had made " a scornful journey," were accorded a
gracious reception, calculated to ensure their loyalty in the future.
A few days later Sir Christopher was brought before the privy
council and accused of having uttered threats apparently against
Sir Robert Cecil, which he denied " with great reverence to the
place, but passionate as a soldier." He was taunted with being
an Irishman, and with great dignity made the following reply,
which many have since echoed : " I am sorry that when I am in
England I should be esteemed an Irishman, and in Ireland an
Englishman. 1 have spent my blood, engaged and endangered
my life often to do her Majesty service, and do beseech to have
it so regarded." On being told finally to return to his command
in Ireland, he begged leave to continue for a time in England,
where he had private business of much moment, and represented
the smallness of his charge in Ireland.^ His conduct and repre-
sentations appear to have made a most favourable impression, and
he was permitted to postpone his return to Ireland for two
months, and granted by the Queen, in consideration of the good
report which had been made to her of him, arrears of pay long
due. When leaving London he was commended by the Queen to

1 Camden's " Anuals," iii, 795.

■^ Collins's " Letters and Memorials of State," ii, 133, 136.

'^ Ibid., pp. 134, 137.

G 2

84 HOAVTH AND ITS OWXEIIS.

the Lords Justices of Ireland as one who had " well deserved in
her service," and for whom she desired " good grace and counten-
ance "; and he was so much in favour with Sir Robert Cecil that,
five days after his return to Dublin, in January, 1600, he was
able to appeal confidentially to him for help in regard to his
arrears, payment of which was refused to him, notwithstanding
the Queen's letter.'

A month later, on February 26, 1600, Lord Mountjoy arrived
in Ireland, as Essex's successor. As he landed at Howth it fell
to the lot of Nicholas to be the first to receive him, and as in the
case of Sir William Eussell, to entertain him that night in the
Castle. With such confidence did he inspire Mountjoy that in the
following May he was appointed to govern his county during
Mountjoy's absence in the North, and was said by him to be
" one of the best of the nobility."- His reputation was further
enhanced by the singular discretion and ability which he dis-
played that summer on a mission to the Queen's court on behalf
of the inhabitants of the Pale, who were at that time groaning
under the maintenance of the army, and found that " if there
were no rebel to spoil them, the army would consume them."^
He made, like his son, a favourable impression on the Queen, and
on his return to Ireland was vindicated by the issue of proclama-
tions covering the grounds of his complaints. From a letter
which he wrote to Sir Eobert Cecil, it appears that such practices
as littering horses with corn, extorting money and drink, and
abusing and beating the people, were proved against the soldiers,
and, no doubt, the inhabitants of the Pale blessed Lord Howth
for his interference, although some of the officers, who said that
their horses were starved under the new regulations, asserted that
the contrary was the case.*

Although the Irish officials had not been too well pleased at
the idea of the mission, the Queen's reception of Nicholas caused
it to be regarded in a very different light. On his return to

' Cal. S. P., Irel, 1599-1600, pp. 227, 321, 344, 413, 424.
' Cal. S. P., Irel., 1599-1600, p. 499 ; IfiOO, pp. 204, 301.
3 Acts of Privy Council, 1599-1600, p. 507.
^ Ciil. S. P., Irel., IGOO, pp. 326, 428 ; lGOO-01, p. 170.

UNDER ELIZABETH. 85

Ireland they found that only for his efforts in moderating " the
wilfulness of the Pale," the most serious results would have
followed, and were loud in praise of his great worth, as well in
private life as in the many employments, "martial and civil,"
which he had held under the Crown.^ His inclusion on the
council board was recommended by Mountjoy, and Dublin county
and its marches were placed in his sole charge. In discharging
that trust he is said to have been active in putting the county in
arms, and " in his own person very stirring to go from place to
place to see the straits and passages manned, using all diligence
he could to defend the country according to the trust reposed in
him."-^

His son, Sir Christopher St. Lawrence, was constantly em-
ployed during Mountjoy's government as a colonel, and greatly
increased his reputation as a soldier, although still bearing the
character of a wild Irishman. Before Mountjoy arrived it was
reported that " the Lords of Ormond and Thomond and Sir
Christopher St. Lawrence were dangerously hurt in a brawl
.amongst themselves"; and in April following, when the Earl of
Ormond was taken prisoner by the O'Mores, and Sir Christopher
was sent with reinforcements to Kilkenny, it was expressly
provided that his part was to lead the troops, and not to take
oharge of Ormond's " sorrowful lady."^ During that summer,
while fighting against the O'Mores with Mountjoy, Sir Christopher
captured an immense number of cattle, sheep, and goats ; and in
the following October, while fighting against Tyrone, he was
wounded at the Moyrie Pass, where his uncle Thomas had been
killed.'' In the early months of 1601 he was at Mountjoy's right
hand in military operations in the central districts of Ireland, and
had " a very hot skirmish " with Captain Tyrell, one of Tyrone's
partisans, at the pass which bears Tyrell's name in the county of

1 Ciil. S. P., Irel., 1600, pp. 303, 431.

2 Ibid., 1600-01, pp. 15, 58.

3 Cal. S. P., Dom., 1598-1601, p. 392 ; Irel., 1600, pp. 88, 97 ; Carew, 1599-1600,
p. 378.

* Cal. S. P., Irel., 1600, pp. 396, 460 ; Carew, 1589-1600, p. 465.

86 HOWTH AXD ITS OWNEES.

Westmeath. Althuugli .smarting under neglect in regard to
promotion, he was said l>y ]Mountjoy to have acted " the part of
an lionest man," and he was promised by ^Mountjoy a certificate
of his good service to the Queen.^ In writing to one of the Irish
officials Sir Christopher says that he prays God Mountjoy will
not forget his promise, for he has lost his blood often for the
Queen, and thinks that she has never heard of it, but concludes
his letter by wishing his friend good fortune, and himself and his
comrades money and little rest, for he knows that as long as a
soldier could go he should never stay still/ In August he was
with ]Mountjoy in the North of Ireland, in command nominally
of seven hundred and fifty men ; and in the autumn he was sent
into Munster to oppose the Spaniards, and was present at the
siege of Kinsale.^ During the early part of 1602 he appears to
have been stationed in Dublin, but in July he was appointed
Governor of Monaghan, and went there to take charge of the
garrison.^ His rule was of short duration, for according to
Fynes Moryson,^ Mountjoy found it necessary to recall him in
October, in order to settle differences between him and his second
in command. He had been there, however, long enough to gain the
love of many of the inhabitants in Monaghan and the adjoining
counties of Cavan and Fermanagh, and he was alleged to have
tried to make the northern border of the Pale a dependency
of his own.'' Some mysterious negotiations are said to have
taken place at the same time between him and Tyrone, and
accusations of disloyalty and tyrannical conduct to the later
English settlers were afterwards made against him.' He con-
sidered himself maligned, and on November 5 wrote to Cecil,
begging leave to go to England " for the repairing of his reputa-
tion," and saying that he would return next day if Cecil wished.

' Cal. S. r., Irel., 1600-01, pp. 227, 228.

2 Ibid., p. 203. ^ Ibid; 1601-03, pp. 13, 148, 165.

* Ibid., pp. 487, .520, 52:!. * " Itinerary," pt. ii, pp. 225, 245.

e Cal. S. 1'., Irel., 1606-08, pp. 94, 535.

' Mr. BagweU's " Ireland under the Tudors," iii, 433 ; Cal. S. P., Irel., 1606-08,
226 ; 1608-10, p. 190.

UNDER ELIZABETH.

as he had no suit to make, but only wanted " to speak with his
Honour " ; and in the following January Mountjoy wrote to Cecil
that Sir Christopher desired military employment in some other
country, and recommended that he should be allowed to seek it,
as many Irish swordsmen would be certain to follow him, and if
as many as two thousand could be induced to do so, the estab-
lishment would be saved a hundred thousand pounds.^

1 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1601-03, pp. 511, 554.

Arms on Tomb.

( 88 )

CHAPTER VI.

IN JACOBEAN TIMES.

The Jacobean age has left little mark on the county of Dublin,
either in regard to its buildings or the history of its families, and
in the case of Howth an exception to the rule is not found.
There is not any trace of Jacobean work in the Castle, but it is
probable that an alteration in the structure was made during the
reign of Charles the First, as Swift alludes in one of his references
to Traulus to the fact that Traulus's great-grandfather, the
designer of the Earl of Strafford's mansion near ISTaas, left his
name inscribed on one of the chimneys :

And at Howth to boast his fame,
On a chimney cut his name.^

Of the other buildings on the peninsula in Jacobean times the
only one mentioned, besides Corr Castle, which had been enlarged
by an annex with a thatched roof, is a house on the lands of
Sutton. It is described as " a good English-like stone house." It
was roofed with slates ; and as it was rated as containing six
chimneys, half the number in Howth Castle, it must have been
of considerable size. Its out-otfices were roofed with tiles, and
its courtyard, or bawn, was surrounded with a stone wall." As
will be seen in the next chapter, the site of this house is now
occupied by the modern Sutton House.

During the seventeenth century Howth was less used as a
port, owing to ships being larger and facilities for embarkation
and disembarkation being greater elsewhere ; but the fishery
retained its importance, and the fishermen proved their skill and
fearlessness in the conveyance to England of letters in open row-
boats, when all other means of communication failed. It had
been long recognized that, when the saving of time was of supreme

The Legion Club. - Civil Survey.

IN" JACOBEAN TIMES. 89

importance, Howth had the advantage over other ports, and in
the reign of James the First one Captain Pepper was wont to
resort there from Holyhead with a packet-boat, which passed to
and fro, "like a light horseman, before all others," but which
envious people said was only " a baggage-boat."' But sometimes
the winds proved too contrary for ships like it, or other obstacles
intervened, and then the Howth fishermen proved their worth.
In the opening years of Charles the First's reign their bravery was
■severely put to the test, as pirates infested the Channel, and
inflicted much loss and damage upon shipping. Writing in his
diary on July 20, 1630, the Great Earl of Cork says- :—" White
of Howth, being by me employed in his open boat from Howth to
Holyhead to carry my letters to the Earl of Kildare and my son
{expressing they should be very careful how they took their
passage hither, for that the pirates were in the channel), delivered
my letters there, brought me a certificate, and returned this day,
to whom Henry Staines's man gave, by my order, 5^." Two years
later, on July, 23, 1632, the Lords Justices wrote to England that
•" the subjects " dared not venture to sea, and told how their very
good lord, the Lord Baron of Howth, witnessed " from his island "
one Nutt chasing two ships, and stopping them with his shot.^
In the next year the position had not improved, and a pirate took,
in the bay of Dublin, a bark of Liverpool, in which there was
" a trunk of damask, and other linen," belonging to the Earl of
Strafford.* The pirates succumbed to the strong rule of that
masterful viceroy, who stationed at Howth the " Ninth Whelp,"
-and armed her with four brass guns f but the winds were beyond
his control, and still remained a difficulty. Writing in May,
1634, he tells one of his officials, who was coming from London,
that he has sent a row-boat to await him at Holyhead, and that,
if the winds do not permit the post-bark to put out, he is to
^entrust the letters which he has with him to the boatmen.' Ten

' Cal. S. P., Irel., 1606-08, p. 454.

^ " Lismore Papers," ser. i, vol. iii, p. 44.

3 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1625-32, p. 671.

* Earl of Cowper's Maiiiscripts, ii, 11.

5 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1633-47, pp. 20, 116.

^ Hist. MSS. Com. Eept. xi, App. pt. vii, p. 243.

90 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

years later, when the ships of the ParHament had established a
blockade of Dublin, the Eoyalists found in the Howth fishermen
gallant allies, and entrusted to them their despatches, which by
no other means could reach their destination.^

In the owners of Howbh a gradual change from the old order
to the new took place, and Anglo- Irish traits were superseded by
those of the later Eno-lish settlers. This assimilation of character
was due in a great degree to the frequent visits paid by them to
the Entflish Court, as well during the reisrn of James the First as
during the reign of Elizabeth, and to their alliances to ladies of
English birth. Although they complained of want of means, a
high standard of living was maintained in the Castle. Within its
hospitable walls on more than one occasion the viceroy made a
prolonged stay, and, from a chance reference in the records of the
Guild of Tailors in Dublin,^ it appears that Lord Howth's entourage
included a band of musicians, whose assistance was sought at civic
entertainments. The reference in the reign of Henry the Eighth
to hawks being bred at Howth shows that the owners began early
to evince an interest in sport, which has brought to their later
generations wide fame and popularity. Before the seventeenth
century liad long opened there is evidence that the peninsula had
become a noted centre for fox-hunting, and the mention of a
greyhound shows that hares also afforded sport.?

For other residents in Howth one turns naturally first to the
records of the churches ; but these are meagre, and give little help.
To what extent the prebendaries resided on the peninsula there
can be no certainty. In the year 1630 the prebendary seems to
have been in sole charge of the cure, but at other times a curate
is mentioned — in 1615, Martin Cod ; in 1639 Eusebius Roberts ;.
in 1644, Humphrey Vaughan ; and in 1645, John Butler.^ A
reference to the parish priest of Howth in the reign of Elizabeth
shows that even then the Roman Catholic residents were not
without spiritual consolation.' But, as the Bishop of Canea
states in his " Histories of Dublin Parishes,"* it was not until the

' See infra. - Informiition kindly supplied by Dr. Beriy.

* See infra. ^ See Appendix G.

* Mr. Bagwell's " Ireland under the Tudors," ii, 15. * Part xv, p. 54.

IN JACOBEAN TIMES. 91

reign of James the First that his charge was defined. The parish
priest was then a notable man, the Rev. William ShergoU, who, in
1631, was advanced to " the Prebend of Howth, in St. Patrick's
Chapter," and who was during the Confederation a consulting
divine. He signed himself " Professor of Divinity, Prebendary of
Howth, and Vicar-Forane of Fingal," and to the high place which
he occupied in the affections of the people of that district many
wills of that period bear witness. Before the reign of James the
First, Corr Castle had passed from the Whites to Lord Howth,'
and was occupied by the blind lord's son, Eichard,- who had
married one of the Cosby s of Abbey leix. The bearer of the
Earl of Cork's letter, Michael White by name, was probably a
cadet of the family that owned Corr Castle. His will, and that
of his father, are on record, and show that " a great fishing boat,
with all things thereunto belonging," was their chief possession.^

When James the First ascended the throne, Nicholas, the son
of the blind lord, was still in possession of the Howth title and
estate, and able to take an active part in the movement that
began then for a toleration of the Roman Catholic religion. The
chief promoter of that movement was Nicholas's brother-in-law.
Sir Patrick Barnewall. At the time he succeeded to the title
Nicholas had not been on good terms with Sir Patrick, and in
consequence of the non-fulfilment of the agreement that Sir
Patrick should marry his sister, he instituted a suit for the
recovery of half the amount for which his father-in-law had bound
himself. A decree was in 1595 given by Archbishop Loftus
as Chancellor of Ireland in favour of Nicholas, and although
Sir Patrick sought to upset it by subterraneous methods, it was
upheld by the privy council of England.^ During the next few years
Nicholas and Sir Patrick seem to have made up their differences :
in 1600 Sir Patrick accompanied Nicholas to England in his
mission on behalf of the Pale, and from that time they appear to
have been close friends.

^ Ulster's Visitation in 1607. ^ See infra.

3 The wills of Thomas and Matthew White, dated 1629 and 1633 respectively, are
in the Dublin Collection.

■* Chancery Decree, Eliz., no. 663 ; Acts of the Privy Council, 1595-96, p. 117;.
1596-97, pp. 7, 28.

•92 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

"When the movement for toleration had attained its height in
the autumn of 1605, Nicholas was entertaining the Lord Deputy,
Sir Arthur Chichester, at Howth, whither Chichester had been
driven by the plague which was then raging in Dulilin.' During
the six weeks that Chichester was his guest, Nicholas used to
accompany him to the door of the church on Sundays, but would
not attend worship,- and approved of the petition which was
presented to Chichester in November, protesting against inter-
ference with the exercise of the Roman Catholic religion. On the
arrest of Sir Patrick Barnewall and others for the promotion of
the petition, Nicholas boldly asserted still further his devotion to
the Roman Catholic religion by joining in a letter to the Earl
•of Salisbury, as Sir Robert Cecil had tlien liecome, complaining of
their imprisonment.'

As long as the plague was virulent the government of the
•country was conducted from Howth. There Chichester issued
his warrants, and there, as he tells the Earl of Salisbury, he held
the meetings of his council. At a meeting on September '30 four
of the members were present, and at one on October 16. when an
order concerning attendance at church was made, seven were
present. One of the councillors who attended both these
meetings was Archbishop Loftus's successor, Thomas Jones, who
was then Bishop of Meatb, but who, before Chichester left Howth,
was appointed, on Chichester's recommendation. Archbishop of
Dublin and Chancellor of Ireland.* In the intervals of business
Chichester and Nicholas used to go out Imnting, and on one
occasion, when led by a fox over the lands of Ijalgriflfin, which had
belonged to a clergyman of the Roman Catholic Church, discussion
as to the merits of their respective faiths arose. "Alas!" said
Nicholas to Chichester, " the owner of this and other estates
abandoned all, and is now living in poverty in foreign lands.
Could you give an instance of such a thing among the men of
your profession ? " " Oh ! " replied Chichester, " you can point to
only one case in yours." But Nicholas came off best in the

» Cal. S. P., Irel., 1603-06, pp. 323, 334, 344.

2 Rev. Edmund Hogan's " Distinguislied Irishmen of the Sixteenth Century,"
p. 424.

^ Gal. S. P. Irel., 1C03-06, p. 365. ^ Ihid., pp. 323, 337.

IN JACOBEAN TIMES. 93

encounter, and was able to name two others from the immediate-
neighbourhood who were in similar circumstances.^

While staying at Howth Chichester referred to Nicholas as an
old man who could not live long, and in less than two years his
death took place. It was announced by Chichester on May 1 1 ,
1607, and his funeral is recorded in Ulster's office to have taken
place at Howth ten days later. His second wife survived him for
a short time, until July 25, and proved his will.- It had been
made nine years before, on March 20, 1598, and shows that family
affection was one of his attributes, and that his married life was
happier than that of his father, or, as will be seen, than that of his
son. He left, besides his heir, a younger son, Thomas, by his first
wife, and three sons, Edward, Eichard, and Almeric, by his second
wife. He had also four daughters : by his first wife, Mary, who-
married William Eustace of Castlemartin ; and by his second wife,
Margaret, who married first Jenico, Viscount Gormanston, and
secondly Luke, Earl of Eingal ; Elinor ; and Alison, who married
Thomas Luttrell of Luttrellstown.

His successor, Christopher, had shown himself, as we have
seen, before the close of Queen Elizabeth's reign a brave soldier,,
but had displayed the impetuosity and recklessness of character
which are so often united with courage in the Irish race. He
possessed also another characteristic of his countrymen, wit and
readiness of speech, and his sense of humour was little understood
by Sir Arthur Chichester and other staid statesmen with whom he-
had to deal. But it proved probably a passport to the favour of
James the First, and all references to Christopher made by James
in his individual capacity, when free from his council, are couched
in terms of warm friendship and praise. At the time of his
father's death Christopher was in the Netherlands. During the
first two years of the reign of James the First he appears to have
remained in a state of inactivity in Ireland, but at their close he
began to express dissatisfaction with his position. In the spring
of 1605 he wrote to Viscount Cranborne, as Sir Robert Cecil was
then, to solicit " some mark of the King's gracious and liberal

1 Hogan, op. cit., p. 424. - It is in the Prerogative Collection.

94 HOWTII A XT) ITS OWNEES.

recognition of his services," and in the auLunin of that year, not
having received a favourable reply, he was found by Chichester,
when staying at Howth, determined on entering the service of
some other country. With more foresight than Mountjoy
displayed, Chichester formed the o})inion that such a course
could only result in Christopher's " dishonour and utter undoing,"
and he endeavoured to dissuade him from it, and to induce the
King to give him either a pension during his father's life or com-
mand of a troop of horse.^ For six months Chichester persisted
in his efforts, but wrote finally that Christopher could no longer
be restrained, and, having given up all hope of obtaining anything
from his own sovereign, was about to enter the Spanish service,^
in which his brother Thomas had been for some years, and had
become " one of the captains of best esteem and most power."^

The period of the episode in Irish history known as "the
flight of the earls " was then approaching. With that episode
Christopher's name is closely connected, and the part attributed
to him in it has brought on him much obloquy. According to his
own account, about Christmas, 1605, he became aware that a con-
spiracy existed in Ireland " to shake off the yoke of the English
government, and to adhere to the Spaniard," and he was instru-
mental in preventing an attempt " to seize upon the Castle of
Dublin, and to kill or otherwise dispose of the Deputy and
council," by representing that active help from Spanish sources
would be essential to its success. It was, he says, his intention
to reveal the conspiracy before it could cause " his country's ruin
or the King's disturbance" ; and with that object, as well as with
the one indicated by Chichester, he set out in August, 1606, from
Ireland for London. There, he tells us, the conspiracy began to
appear to him of less importance, resting, as he was then disposed
to believe, only on " discourse by means of priests and some slight
promises of assistance " ; and he left finally for the Netherlands
without making any disclosure. In the Netherlands he met
Pdchard Stanihurst, the author of the well-known Elizabethan

1 Cal. S. P., Iiel., 1603-06, pp. 258, 338. 2 jjj^.^ p. 519.

^ Ibid., p. 396; 1606-08, p. 415.

IN JACOBEAN TIMES. 95

description of Ireland, who had married, like Lord Dunsany, a
sister of Christopher's mother, and Christopher Cusack, the
founder of the Irish Colleges in the Netherlands, whom he calls
his near kinsman, and gathered from them that the conspiracy
had " infected many of the King's subjects, as well on that side as
on this, and th<it the King of Spain had assured the conspirators
of aid." Thinking it no longer right to withhold anything he
knew, he returned to London, and imparted the whole matter to
the Earl of Salisbury, by whom he was sent back to the Nether-
lands, where his military qualities were much appreciated, and the
command of a thousand men was offered to him.^

Meantime Chichester was expressing apprehension, which was
shared by the council, that Christopher's presence in the Spanish
camp might lead others to go to it, and give encouragement to
revolutionary sentiments in Ireland, and announced, evidently
with a feeling of relief, in May, 1607, the death of Christopher's
father, inasmuch as it would have the effect of recalling Christoplier
to his own country.^ Although he had heard of the disclosures,
Chichester knew the discoverer only by the letters A. B., and
learned, a few weeks later, to his amazement, that these letters
concealed the identity of the new Lord Howth, whose return to
Ireland he might soon expect. At the same time the task of
sifting the truth of the disclosures was assigned to him, and on
Christopher's return it was at once begun, and proved very difficult
owing to Christopher's " lightness and inconstancy."^

The secret departure of the Earls of Tyrconnel and Tyrone at
the beginning of September left in Chichester's mind no doubt as
to the existence of a conspiracy ; but his opinion as to whether
Christopher had been aware of the Earls' intention or not varied
from day to day. On September 8 he alluded to Christopher as
a person who had deserved well of the Government, and who was
entitled to great rewards ; but on September 10 he became
doubtful of his good faith on hearing a rumour that a boat with
■" six young and lusty fellows " was kept waiting at " the quay of

1 Cal. S. P. Iiei., 1606-08, p. 254. 2 Ibid., p. 147.

3 Ibid., pp. 203, 226, 265.

HOWTJI AND ITS OWNEP.S.

Howth " for some unknown purpose, and that Christopher was
allowing many priests to resort to Howth Castle to see " the old
Countess of Kildare " and " the Lady Dowager of Delvin," who
were then his guests.^

On receiving Chichester's indecisive reports, the English privy
council came to the conclusion that the best thing to be done was
to place Christopher under arrest. Whether he had well deserved
or not, they thought a little confinement could do him no harm,
and his restraint might be excused to him on the ground that it
was to save him from the vengeance of the conspirators if they
became aware of his being a discoverer.^ Chichester did not re-
ceive the privy council's letter until November, but having then
" by good hope artificially drawn " Christopher to Dublin, he lodged
him in Dublin Castle. He had made up his mind to free himself
of further responsibility by sending Christopher for the privy
council to examine ; but as a suitable ship was not available, and
in consideration of the high rank of the prisoner, he postponed
doing so until he had time to communicate with the Earl of
Salisbury. It was not until the second week in December that
he was able to complete the arrangements for Christopher's depar-
ture, and his confidence in him was then so great as to lead him
to assure the Earl of Salisbury that Christopher " had dealt care-
fully and soundly since his coming over in the business, which had
been to his great travail, charge, and liazard."^ On his arrival
in London, Christopher was placed under close restraint, and at the
beginning of February he was still in want of "liberty to take
the air for his better health " ; but before the middle of March he
was successful in convincing the privy council of " his loyal heart
to his king and country," and was sent back to Ireland acquitted
of all charges, and accompanied by a letter containing a hint to
the Irish council that they had been remiss in not expediting legal
business of his which was then pending.*

When Christopher returned to Ireland, Howth Castle was
occupied by Chichester, who had gone there for Easter, which fell

J Cal. S. p. Irel., 160G--08, pp. 265, 2G9.
2 Ibid., pp. 326, 347, 348, 3-32.

2 Ibid., p. 283.

•« Ibid., pp. 404, 409, 437.

IN JACOBEAN TIMES. 97

early in 1608/ and fresh disclosures, made by Christopher in
London, were being investigated. These disclosures concerned
Sir Garret Moore, ancestor of the Earls of Drogheda, on whom a
viscountcy was afterwards conferred, and involved Moore in
charges of complicity in the flight of the Earls, and in the
encouragement of satanic art. The medium in that practice was
Moore's own chaplain, an English minister called Aston, and this
" conjuror and raiser of spirits " had the assurance to wait upon
Chichester, when he was at Howth, and to endeavour to justify
his methods. As Chichester did not believe his denial of compact
with the. devil, " either by blood or promise," he was consigned to
a small castle close by, either the gate-tower or Corr Castle, and
compelled to make a statement in writing. Never did a document
penned at Howth result in more extraordinary revelations. In it
Aston alleged that the Chancellor-Archbishop, Thomas Jones,
whose daughter Sir Garret Moore had married, was one of those
who had sought his aid in divination; and so great was the
superstition of the time that the Archbishop thought it necessary
to let the Earl of Salisbury know that he held the raising or
invoking of spirits to be a great blasphemy against God, and to be
only effected by some contract with Satan to the hazard of a man's
soul. In such an art, he says, he could not be in any way a par-
taker, and detested and abhorred it as damnable. He proceeds to
tell the Earl of Salisbury that Aston's mention of him was due to
one of his servants who had asked Aston to try his skill in recover-
ing a sum of sixty pounds that had been taken out of the Arch-
bishop's trunk in his palace at Tallaght, but that he knew nothing
of the matter except that the money was still wanting, and that
his son spoke of Aston as a worthless person. As Chichester dis-
closed to the Earl of Salisbury under their most secret cypher, the
truth was that Aston had declared the Archbishop's wife to be
the delinquent, and the Archbishop's son, who apparently gave
credence to the divination, had been afraid to tell his father, know-
ing that it would greatly grieve and displease him to hear that
the money was taken by a person " near and dear to him."^

1 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1606-08, pp. 438, 445, 451. - Ibid., pp. 459, 461.

98 HOWTH AND ITS OAVNEES.

About a month after his return to Ireland, in the becrinnins: of

' oil

May, Christopher made a formal charge of treason against
Sir Garret Moore.' The immediate cause of his doing so was
exasperation, and the provocation was great. By his own
admission Moore had told Christopher that he considered him an
" idle-headed lord, a speaker of untruths, one that would crack
and brag much, yea, that would draw a man into the field, but
when he came there would not and durst not fight him " f and he
could hardly have said anything more galling to a man of
Christopher's temperament. In his calmer moments Christopher
would possibly not have made the charge, for in the end he failed
to prove it ; but he was able to produce sufficient evidence of
intimacy between Moore and the Earl of Tyrone to warrant Moore
being held to bail for a lengthened period. To unravel the
circumstances that attended the Earls' flight passed the wit of
man, and at the conclusion of the inquiry on Christopher's charge,
the King said that Moore's part was only known to God and
himself.^ Equally mysterious were the relations between
Christopher and Moore. Through his wife Christopher had a
connexion with him ; and a short time before making the chai'ge
he had been on such good terms with him as to contemplate the
marriage of his eldest son to Moore's daughter.^

At the time he made the charge against Moore, Christopher
professed to be in great want of money, and began again to think
of leaving Ireland. Once more Chichester urged that such
employment might be given him as would enable him to live
" where he was a principal member of the commonwealth " ; and
he was more successful than on the previous occasion, for
Christopher, who followed the letter to the King's court, was

1 Cal. S. P.,Iiel., 1606-08, p. 515. - lbid.,i,.bZo. ^ /4u/., 1G08-10, p. 191.

* Ibid., 1606-08, p. 53o. Sir Garret Moore's father, Sir Edwr.rd Moore, was
niiirried several times, and much confusion has arisen as 'to his wives, and as to their
somewhat numerous liusbands. According to a Harleian Manuscript, one of his wives
was the widow of Wontworth of Essex (Diet. Nat. Biog., xxxviii, 347) ; and, as will
be mentioned later on, (.'hristopher's wife was a daughter of that liouse. In a pedigree
of her familj' licr father is said to have married as his second wife the widow of Sir
Edward Moore. "Which of the two versions is correct 1 cannot determine.

IN JACOBEAN TIMES. 99

given a command in the army such as he had long coveted.'
Whether his visit to England was undertaken to press his claim
for employment, or to strengthen his position in regard to the
charge against Moore, is not clear ; but the charge against Moore
was discussed while he was at Court, and a promise of encourage-
ment and comfort was given him on account of the enemies whom
he had made in doing service to the King.- He stayed in England
only a week or two, but on his return to Ireland he was confined to
Howth for some months by what he calls a strange disease. His
military command does not seem to have proved so profitable as he
expected, and in September he wrote to the Earl of Salisbury
praying for some further mark of the King's favour. Unless it
were granted to him, he said that he would go to reside in England,
as he preferred to live on small means there than in Ireland, and
he asked for a reply soon, as the best season to obtain a tenant for
his castle and demesne was approaching.^

At that time the Irish council had Christopher under
examination in regard to his charges against Sir Garret Moore,
but he suspected their impartiality, and succeeded in having the
investigation transferred to England. Chichester, who had become
very unfriendly to him, did all he could to prejudice the English
privy council against him. His witnesses were represented as
unfit " to condemn a horse-boy," and as a lesson to Christopher,
it was suggested that he should not be heard, and should be sent
back to Ireland.^ But once again Christopher triumphed, and
although his case against Moore failed, he returned from Court
with the highest testimony to his good faith. In an autograph
letter, written on April 1.3, 1609,^ the King informed Chichester
that Lord Howth had left him " in a clear conceit " of his loyalty,
and indicated that he believed the discredit thrown on him was
due to jealousy. Chichester was commanded to extend all possible
favour and protection to him, and Moore was threatened with the
loss of the King's goodwill if he retained any dregs of displeasure
against him. An idea that Christopher had saved himself by

1 Cal. S. P. Irel., 1606-08, pp. 520, 553. - Ibid., p. 553.

Ibid., 1608-10, p. 41. * Ibid., p. 146. ' Ibid., p. 190.

H 2

100 HOWTH AND ITS OWNEES.

compromising Lord Delvin, who was also suspected of assisting
the Earls' flight, was declared to be untrue, and Chichester was
assured iii verho regis that I^ord Howth liad been as careful of
Lord Delvin's safety as of his own.

The proceedings against Sir Garret Moore brought his
father-in-law. Archbishop Jones, and Christopher into contiict.
At no time does the Archbishop seem to have been friendly to
Christopher, and when Christopher was in the Xetherlands the
Archbishop advised the Earl of Salisbury to take steps to lower
him in the estimation of the Spanish authorities, on the ground
that he was a giddy-headed person who enjoyed a dangerous
popularity with persons addicted to desperate courses.^ The
origin of the Archbishop's unfriendliness was the jealousy between
the Anglo-Irish and the later English settlers. " It has ever been
the habit of people like Lord tlowth," wrote the Archbishop, " to
detract from the credit of English servitors."* In the autumn of
1608, when the Irish council was inquiring into the charges against
Moore, Christopher, not unnaturally, distrusted the Archbishop,
and thought that he was using his position to suppress evidence
against his son-in-law, and to disparage his son-in-law's accuser.^
His "daily croakings " frightened the Archbishop, who showed
small strength of mind for the head of the judiciary ; and lest the
King might give heed to them, a letter was sent off by the Arch-
bishop to the Earl of Salisbury. Conveniently forgetting what he
had previously written, the Archbishop now professed to have
never given Christopher any cause of offence, and complained that
although he had sent him protestations of friendship, he was
unable to abate the edge of his tongue.^ Apparently Christopher's
criticisms of the Archbishop were made partly in joke, but the
solemn prelate had no appreciation of humour, and was the more
troubled, Chichester says, because Lord Howth made a merriment
of that which so greatly grieved him.*

On Christopher's return to Ireland in the spring of 1609, after
the investigation before the English privy council, the Arch-

' Cal. S. p. Irel., 1606-OS, p. 128. - Ibid., p. -161. ^ jjj,/.^ 1608-10. p. 41.

* Ibid., p. 107. ^ Ibid., p. 113.

IN JACOBEAN TIMES. 101

bishop's son, Sir Eoger Jones, constituted himself his father's
champion, and tried to provoke a quarrel with Christopher by-
imitating Sir Garret Moore, and saying that Christopher was a
valiant man amongst cowards. The taunt was unnoticed by
Christopher at the time, but was not forgotten five months later
when an affray took place between Christopher and Sir Roger
and their respective followers. It occurred in a tennis court in
Dublin. According to Christopher's account he went to the tennis
'Court by chance, and the affray arose through Sir Eoger's drawing
his sword on him while he was armed with nothing more formi-
dable than a wand, which it was his habit to carry. A man called
Barnewall, whom (Christopher claimed as a kinsman of his own,
was killed, and, as Christopher believed, by Sir Roger or one of his
followers. On the other hand, Chichester said that Christopher
went to the tennis court for the purpose of attacking Sir Roger
with a cudgel in his hand, and that Barnewall, who was inde-
pendent of both the combatants, was killed by one of Christopher's
followers while trying to save Sir Roger. Chichester was accused
by Christopher of great partiality, and of interfering with the
coroner's inquiry, and he showed plainly in his letters that all
his sympathies were with Sir Roger. News of the affray, which
•occurred on Sunday, reached him while he was in Christ Church
■Cathedral, and during service he sent off the mayor to bring
Christopher and his followers to Dublin Castle. He takes much
■credit for having treated Christopher with great respect, and asked
him to dine at his own table ; but he admits that one of his objects
was to keep him safe until the council could meet and commit
him to prison. As regards his interference with the coroner's
inquiry, he excused himself on the ground that the jury would
only find the crime one of manslaughter, and adds naively that
they would not have done more if Sir Roger himself had been the
person killed. In consequence of this affair the Archbishop
thought it necessary to himself indite a letter to the King, and to
heighten its effect wrote in Latin, although he says he had
discarded that language for forty years. Notwithstanding the
restraint which the Latin tongue imposed, the letter was most
intemperate, and Christopher was denounced as a man of a violent

102 HOWTH AND ITS OWNEES.

and seditious disposition, who had always insulted and calumniated
the writer, and who had now committed an unprovoked assault
witli the help of liis " cut-throat " retainers on the writer's son.'

Since Christopher's return from England Chichester had never
ceased to express dissatisfaction with him. In July he had sent
the Earl of Salisbury a bitter tirade against him, which he wound
u]) by uttering a hope that he might have nothing more to do
with liim.- In answer Christopher complained that Chichester
had given over twenty pardons to partisans of Sir Garret Moore,
the clan of O'Carolan, who were his sworn enemies. Twenty-five of
them had set upon three of his servants, killing one and inflicting
eighteen wounds a-piece on the others, and they would have
wounded him only that he was attended by a guard such as
accompanied him during the war. When left no resource but to
seek redress from the council, he said that he had found Arch-
bishop Jones and Sir Garret Moore were to be two of his judges,,
and that Chichester had taken tlie opportunity to accuse him of
having gone to England to charge him with treason, and " grew
into such a choler that he spared not to use him with reproach-
ful speeches as traitor and the like."^ Finally Christopher
appealed to the King to allow him to leave Ireland ; but Chichester
insinuated that his object was to live upon the King, and obtained
a letter from the English privy council desiring .Christopher to
retire to Howth, and to remain there until further orders were
sent.*

This restraint, which was imposed in April, 1610, was not
removed for four months, and even then Christoplier found
difficulty in obtaining a licence to go to England.^ In the end he
left shortly before Christmas without one. On his arrival in
London he was refused access to the Court, but in response to a-
personal letter to the King in the following April, a hearing
before the privy council was granted him." As a result of the
statement which he made. Sir Roger Jones was ordered also to
attend. On receipt of this order Chichester became evidently

' Cal. S. P., Irel., 1608-10, pp. 321, 322, 327, 330. ^ /^j^,^ p_ .345,

3 Ibid., pp. 275, 276, 378. < Ibid., pp. 391, 427.

* Ibid., p. .529. 6 Ibid., 1611-14, pp. 31, 49.

IN JACOBEAN TIMES. 103

uneasy, and wrote to the Earl of Salisbury in a chastened mood,
assuring him that although Christopher had dealt exceedingly ill
with him, he could never be adverse to him, and always would
wish him well, on account of the service that he had rendered at
the time of the Earls' flight. On Sir Eoger's arrival the privy
council sought to effect a reconcilation between Christopher and
him, and failing to do so committed Christopher to the Fleet, from
which in a few weeks he was released on giving an undertaking
that he would submit himself to the order of the council when
called upon, and would meantime not approach the King, Queen,
or Prince, or proceed further in his quarrel with Sir Koger.^

Before long these conditions were a dead letter, and a year
later Christopher appears as one of the King's train on his annual
progress.* In the autumn of that year he returned to Ireland,
and at the same time the King gave Chichester what can only be
considered a severe lecture on his conduct towards him. He
warns Chichester in this letter under his own hand, which is
dated October 4, 1612,^ to take care that no private anger trans-
ports him against Lord Howth, and tells him that he has had
Lord Howth under his own observation the whole time he had
been in England, and had found his carriage unexceptionable. In
conclusion he refers to persecution which some of Lord Howth's
servants had suffered at the hands of Sir Garret Moore, and com-
mands that it should be stopped, and that assurance should be
given to Lord Howth that he will be allowed to live quietly in
his own country.

The next occasion on which Christopher is mentioned was two
years later, in the summer of 1614, when Chichester returned
from a visit to the King, and royal admonitions are seen to have
borne fruit. On July 14 Chichester arrived very early in the
morning at Howth, and in the afternoon proceeded to Dublin,
attended by "great troops of hoi'semen of all estates." As he
entered the city he received " the sword of justice and estate,"
and selected Lord Howth as the person to bear it before him.*

1 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1611-14, pp. 61, 83 ; Brit. Mus., Lansdowne MS., 160, 222.
- Cal. S. P., Irel., 1611-14, p. 283, 3 73^^.^ p_ 290.

* Lodge's '' Desiderata Curiosa Hibernica," i, SI.").

104 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

Still more remarkable is the fact that in the following September,
Christopher and Archbishop Jones were associated in an attempt
to relieve the King's perennial necessities by raising a contribu-
tion as a free gift from the county of Dublin, and notwithstanding
the impecuniosity of which Christopher so often complained, and
of which his detractors have taken advantage, he put down no less
than a Inmdred pounds as an example to others.^

In his family relations, as in liis public ones, Christopher
was not happy. He had married before 1597 an English lady,
Elizabeth, daughter of John Wentworth, of Great Horksley, in
Essex, a cadet of the Yorkshire house,- but had separated from
her before Chichester went to stay in the autumn of 1605 at
Howth.* The alliance was made after Christopher had come to
years of discretion, and bears every indication of having been a
love match ; but it was probably contracted, like everything
Christopher did, with little thought.^ The question of an allow-
.ance to his wife became, after their separation, a cause of
additional contention, and came before the privy council of
England, who arranged in 1608 that the amount should be a
hundred pounds a year.* For some years that sum seems to have
been paid, but in the summer of 1614 it was withheld by
Christopher on the ground that money had fallen to his wife in
England. That she was entitled to property in her own right
would appear to have been the case ; but the privy council found
that no increase of money had then come to her, and induced the
King to write, on December 5, a direction to Chichester to compel
Christopher to pay, and to that end to place him under restraint,
if the forms and customs of Ireland would permit. Such a course
was contrary to the lady's own wish, and the King can hardly
have been very earnest in suggesting it, as only two mouths before
he had made Christopher a grant of a hundred pounds a year in

» Cal. S. P., Irel., 1611-14, p. 501.

' The Visitations ot Essex, p. 315.

3 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1603-06, p. 338.

* She w;is received bj^ Queen Elizabetli, who accepted from her a New Year's gift
of ** sleeves unmade, with apiece of purle upon a paper to edge them." See Mrs.
Palliser's '• Hist, of Lace," Lond., 1902, p. 310.

5 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1606-08, pp. 410, 520.

■r.

O
O

IN JACOBEAN TIMES. 105

acknowledgment of his long and faithful service to himself and
Queen Elizabeth.' It is probable that there was more to be
said on Christopher's side than is apparent, for the allowance to
his wife was afterwards reduced, and it is possible that this may
have been also true in regard to a dispute with his brother-in-law,
Thomas Luttrell, whom Christopher accused of having used
" opprobrious and disdainful words " regarding him before the
council, but who denied having done so.-

As an entry in Ulster's ofltice records, Christopher's death took
place on Sunday, October 24, 1619, in the morning, at Howth, and
his body was there interred ; but, for some reason which is not
explained, the obsequies were not celebrated until Sunday,
January 30, following. As the same authority states, two sons,
Nicholas and Thomas, survived him, as well as his wife, who
married as a second husband Sir Eobert Newcomen.

Nicholas, who succeeded to the title and estate, was in
character the reverse of his father, and led an uneventful and
domestic life. Notwithstanding a rumour of his having attended
a service of the Eoman Catholic Church, his father seems to have
•consistently professed the religion of the Established Church,^ and
four years before his death he had married Nicholas to the
•daughter of an English ecclesiastic who held then the see of
Meath. This marriage resulted in every happiness, and having
■been made when Nicholas was only eighteen years of age had
much influence on his life. Dr. George Montgomery, whose only
child the lady was, was a Scotchman of high birth, and skilled in
the affairs of Church and State. During the reicai of Elizabeth
he had been presented to the living of Chedzoy, in Somersetshire,
and while holding it acted as an intelligencer for James, who on
his accession to the throne of England gave him the deanery of
Norwich, and two years later appointed him Bishop of Derry with
the sees of Clogher and Eaphoe in commendam.

The Bishop's wife was a Somersetshire lady, Susan, daughter
■of Philip Steyning, of Holnicott, and several letters from her to

1 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1611-14, pp. 485, 505, 529 ; Lodge's " Peerage," iii, 200.

2 '• House of Commons Journal, Ireland," under dates April 29 and May 8, 1615.

3 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1603-06, p. 346 ; 1606-08, p. 94 ; 1611-14, p. 290.

lOG HOWTH AND ITS OWNEES.

her only sister ;uitl her sister's husband, a member of the Devon-
shire family of Willoughby, are preserved amonf,'st the Trevelyau
Papers.^ In one of these letters the Bishop's wife mentions that
the future Lady Howth, who was left behind in England, tlid not
approve of her father's translation to Ireland.- By the death of
his wife, wliieh he announced in February, 1G14,^ the care of their
"little tender branch" devolved entirely upon the Bishop, and
no time was lost by him in transferring his charge to a husband.
Writing to his wife's brother-in-law on June 20, 1618/ the Bishop
informs him that he had married his daughter into a noble house,
the best in the Pale, and that he hopes thereby all her friends
who have anything to do with Ireland may derive much comfort.
He adds that she had already borne her husband a daughter, like
her mother and aunt did first, and that she hopes soon to present
him with a son. As a portion the Bishop had given her the
lordship of Whitwell in Colyton, but he indicates that his responsi-
bilities were not ended, and that there still rested on him " a
great burden for settling the estate of the house of Howth." As
a document found amongst his papers showed,* it was his intention
to use for that purpose his influence with James the First, who
never forgot his " black Irish bishop " ; but his death soon after his
son-in-law's succession to Howth prevented the accomplishment
of his design.*

Although included in a list of persons recommended for
command in the army as colonels, Nicholas is only mentioned in
connexion with civil life.'' In 1625 he was one of the chief men
of the Pale who responded to a call for money from their
insatiable sovereign, and who protested " before God and his
Majesty " their willingness to bestow themselves and all their

* Published by the Camden Society.

- Her mother mentions tliat in Ireland she was reminded of her daughter's having
said that if she went there she would be full of lice. Trevelyan Papers, iii, p. 100.
3 Ihid., p. 13o. ^ Ihid., p. 148. 5 jiid,^ p. 36.

* The Bishop married secondly Elizabeth, daughter of Edward Lord Brabazon, and
after the Bishop's death, which occurred in 1621, Lord and Lady Howth, who were hia
executors, were involved in much litigiition with her and others. Lodge's "Peerage,'*
i, 274; Chancery Decrees, Jiic. I, nos. 231, 236, 2S1, 298.

' CaL S. P., Irel., 1647-60, et Add., p. 100.

IN JACOBEAN TIMES. 107

means in the King's service, and in 1627 he was appointed a
commissioner to levy a subsidy for the maintenance in Ireland of
five thousand foot and five hundred horse.^ As a member of the
House of Lords he was one of those who presided at the trial of
Lord Dunboyne for manslaughter,'^ and he was in 1630 active in
agitating that a Parliament should be summoned. In the previous
year he had joined in a petition complaining of unequal incidence
of taxation, and had taken the part of under-tenants against " the
great lords, judges, generals, and officials," and he was believed
by the Irish Government to have been actuated in taking part in
the movement for a meeting of Parliament by a desire to obtain
relief from charges imposed on him by the ecclesiastical courts,
which were said to exceed those imposed by the army.'

By his relations, the majority of whom differed from him in
faith, Nicholas was held in universal esteem. The only discordant
note is sounded by his mother, who mentions in her will that he
had caused her much grief " by putting her in suit for a bargain
which she had never concluded with him," but she forgave him
freely, and left him and his her " prayers and blessing." In
addition to testifying to Nicholas's virtues, wills of that time
throw much light on the life of the house of Howth, and his
mother's is not the least interesting.* It was dated April 20, 1627,
and was made with the consent of her second husband. Sir Eoberb
Newcomen, knight and baronet. Her step-son, Thomas Newcomen,
was entrusted with the duties of executor ; but was in no way
" to bar or let " a will in England, of which her son, Thomas
St. Lawrence, was the executor. To her son Thomas's nurse and a
god-daughter she left remembrances ; and she mentions also her
sister in-law, Mrs. Eose St. Lawrence, "wife of Eichard St. Lawrence
of Dublin, Esquire," as having taken great pains with her in her
sickness. In the will of Matthew Plunkett, Lord of Louth, dated
December 11, 1625, Nicholas appears as the recipient of a case of

' Cal. S. P., Irel., 1625-32, pp. 70, 245, 250.

- Manuscripts of J. Eliot Hodgkin, p. 292.

3 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1625-32, pp. 462, 590.

* In the Prerogative Collection. In the Entry Book of Thomas Arthur (Brit. Mus.
MS., 31885) it is recorded that she was visited by that eminent physician in the
years 1626 and 1627.

108 HOWTH AND ITS OWXEKS.

pistols ; and under the will of his uncle, Jenieo Preston, Viscount
Gonnanston, dated November 2, 1621^, he was left two horses, called
Monkey and Boniface, and a ring with the motto " Eemember
Gormanston," as well as entrusted with power in regard to the
marriages of his uncle's children.' To Nicholas, the eldest son of
his great-uncle Richard, Robert St. Lawrence of Lishanstown
near the Ward bequeathed for many considerations, by his will,
proved February 10, 1637,* the farm of Ballysaw, in the county
of Meath, and left him as an executor the duty of exercising
^'a fatherly care towards his little ones." Before that time
Robert St. Lawrence seems to have succeeded his father, who
was, however, a few years previously in the possession of Corr
Castle, where Mass was reported to be celebrated by Mr. Shergoll ;
and he is said to have died at Howth.^

The last testamentary wishes of Nicholas's uncle, Edward,
are contained, although he is said to have been a lawyer, in a
nuncupative will, which was proved on February 6, 1639,^ and were
that none other than the Lord Baron of Howth's son, Nicholas
St. Lawrence, should inherit his possessions.^ But of the wills of
the St. Lawrences at that time the most interesting is that of
Nicholas's uncle, Thomas, who on his return from the Spanish
service had settled down amongst his kitli and kin in the Pale.
His love for them and for the haunts of his youth is pathetic. His
will, which bears date March 27, 1638,*^ opens with a direction that
a chapel dedicated to our Lady should be built at llowth between
the College and the Church, near the alley of the churchyard,
twenty-one feet long and twelve feet broad, wherein his body was
to be laid and a monument to his memory erected, and that a
stone cross should be placed on the hill of Dunmoe, in the county
of Meath. Forty pounds are bequeathed to buy a basin and ewer
for the use of the Lords of Howth, and a similar bequest is made
in the case of the Lords of Slane. Pings are left to the children

' Lodge's " Peerage," Hi, 82 ; vi, 169.

* III the Dublin Collection.

2 Archbishop Bulkeley's Report ; cf. Chuacery Decree, Jac. I, no. 248.

* In the Dublin Collection.

» Lord llowth left no legiliniate son. Cf. Cal. S. P., Irel., 1625-32, p. 590.

* In the Dublin Collection.

m JACOBEAN TIMES. 109-

of Lord Howth, and to those of the last Christopher Lord of Slane,
as well as to the Lady of Fingal and the Lady of Gormanston ; and
remembrances in money are bequeathed to his cousin, Thomas
Fleming, brother to Christopher, Lord of Slane ; to George
EitzGerot, alias Roe Darcy, " son to Darcy of Dunmoe, that
sometimes kept at Flatten"; to Mr. Shergoll and to Edmund
Dillon, " son to old Costello." His cousin, Nicholas Barnewall
of Turvey, and William Sarsfield of Lucan, are appointed
executors, with a cup of plate as a remembrance ; and his cousin.
Nan Sarsfield, of Lucan, is left his relics and a ring. To clothe
the door-beggars, " let the poor of Howth be first served," a
hundred pounds is set aside, and amongst the poor on the day of
his burial a sum of twelve pounds is to be distributed which " was
almost forgotten." The residue was left by him for " masses of
requiem"; but if to such disposal of the residue there should
be strong opposition, the money was to be spent on his monu-
ment in addition to that already bequeathed for its erection.
Nicholas's other two uncles, Fdchard, whose will was executed
on March 20, 1660,^ and Almeric or Ambrose, who died in 1622,
both married. As has been already mentioned, Richard's wife
bore the Christian name of Rose,- and Almeric's wife was Anne,
the widow of Thomas Adice, of Portmarnock.^

When the Irish Parliament was summoned by the Earl of
Strafford, Nicholas took a prominent place as a legislator. In the
"Manner of the proceeding to the Parliament" he is named amongst
the peers, and he served as chairman of more than one committee.*
With English statesmen he kept also in touch, and when Viscount
Conway visited Ireland, he presented him with one of his grey-
hounds.* A few days after the rebellion broke out he waited
with the other peers of the Pale on the Lords Justices, and joined
with them in a profession of loyalty to the King and the Govern-
ment, and in a representation of their defenceless state from want

1 111 the Prerogative Collection. It was proved on February 12, 1661.

2 It would appear froiu the grant of probate that lie married a second time, as his
wife's name is given in it as Margaret. He mentions only one child, a daughter, called
Charity.

^ Chancery Decrees, Char. I, nos. 39, 194.

1 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1633-47, p. 60. ^ Ibid., Dom., 1634-35, p. 590.

110 HOWTH AND ITS OWXEES.

of arms. To those who lay most hi danger the Lords Justices
gave a small proportion of arms and munitions, wliich they could
ill spare, in order to assure them of their trust in iheni ; but Lord
Howth required no such assurance, and the isolated position of
his residence was in itself the best defence. When two months
later the Lords Justices asked for a public conference, only Lord
Howth and two other peers, namely, the Earl of Kildare and
Viscount Fitzwilliam, responded.' In the turmoil that ensued
Howth proved a place of refuge ; and when the Duke of Ormond
was shut up in Dublin on land by the Confederate forces and on
sea by the ships of the Parliament, it was to Lord Howth he
looked to transmit his despatches to England. Writing to
Ormond on March 28, 1644, Nicholas says that a l)oat had gone,
according to his directions, and that the men expected a fee of
five pounds ten shillings for crossing and re-crossing, as well as
thirty shillings for their victuals. Two months later, on May 13,
Ormond wrote to Nicholas asking for information about two
men-of-war that had gone from Ikillock to Howth, and requiring
a fishing-boat to go again with a letter to Holyhead, as Parlia-
ment ships lay in Dublin harbour.* Even with the help of the
Howth men for two months that summer letters could not be got
througli, and it must have been with some anxiety that Nicholas
received on October 3 a letter from Ormond, asking him to provide
a bttat for the conveyance of despatches to Holyhead.^

But Ormond had not long his faithful friend to help him.
Troubles, private as well as public, had accumulated upon
Nicholas, and before he made his will, which is dated August 24,
1643, his " estate and means were almost altogether wasted
and burned."^ The outlook could not have been blacker for
him. and in the summer of 1644 he joined other Irish peers in
representing to the King the unhappy and distracted condicion of
the Itoyalists between the powerful armies of the Confederates and
the Scotch Covenanters. They said that their only security had

' Marquess of Ormonde's Jlanuscripts, ii, 4, 37.

■ Cane Papers, ix, 606 ; x, 619.

3 Jbid., xii, 424.

* Trevelyan Papers, iii, 245.

IN JACOBEAN TIMES.

Ill

been the cessation ; and as it was now expiring, they implored the
King to arbitrate between the Catholics and Protestants, and to
declare the Covenanters his enemies. To subsist in their present
divided condition appeared to them vitterly impossible.' Under
the burden of present misery, and fear of the future, Nicholas,
Lord Howth, seems to have sank gradually, and he passed away
before December 22, on which dav his will' was opened.

' Gilbert's " Hist, of Confederation and War in Ireland," iii, 16.
- In the Prerogative Collection.

Arms on Tomb.

( 112 )

CHAPTER VII.

THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE DEVOLUTION.

Nothing is more remarkable in the history of Howth than the
serenity with wliich its owners regarded the great events of the
last half of the seventeenth century, and the security with which
throughout that changeful period they held their estate and did not
suffer diminution of it even to the extent of a single acre. The
Commonwealth authorities could find no fault in the Lord Howth
of their time, and the Parliament of James the Second and that of
William the Third were in agreement as to the conduct of his
son being irreproachable. During the Commonwealth many
envious glances must have been cast upon the peninsula by the
high officials. They were not slow to appropriate to their own
use any eligible residence in the neighbourhood of Dublin ; and
although the mountain of Howth was " high aiul barren," the
Commissioners of the Commonwealth Surveys reported that there
was much fertile land at its foot and a singularly attractive
mansion. 1

The peninsula was divided by the Commissioners under two
denominations: the island of Howth, and Sutton. According to
the return made by them the island of Howth was owned by
Lord Howth, who was found to be a Protestant and to hold his
property l)y inheritance under letters patent granted to his
ancestors by Henry the Second. It contained six hundred acres.
Three hundred acres were said to be arable, two hundred pasture,
twenty meadow, and eighty rock, and their value was estimated
by a jury at two hundred pounds, ])ut by the Commissioners at
three hundred pounds. The sea was reported to be the boundary
on all sides except the west, where " the white bridge of Kil-
barrack " and Baldoyle marked the limit. " There is upon the

' See Down and Civil Surveys in the Public Record Office of Ireland.

THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE EEVOLUTION. 113

premises," said the Commissioners, " one fair mansion-house, two
castles,' one stable, one barn, one dove-house, and several other
office-houses of stone slated, valued by the jury at six hundred
pounds, together with an orchard, two gardens, and a grove of ash
trees set for ornament, also the walls of a decayed chapel.- There is
also in the said island a township or village, where standeth the
parish church, one slate house, one water-mill, with several thatched
houses, all, the church excepted, valued at eighty pounds, together
with an old castle and one thatched house called Corstown."
In addition the Commissioners reported that there was a "harbour
for small bark," frequented by " several fishing-boats that take
such fish as is usual on that coast, whereof the Lord of Howth
hath of every boat the choice fish which is called the Lord's fish,"
and that there were on the lands a large rabbit-warren and a
quarry. The owner kept, they said, court-leet and court-baron,
and had the right to " waifs and strays and felons' goods " found
upon the premises, while the tithes belonged to the prebendary of
Howth in St. Patrick's Cathedral, as rector of the parish.

Sutton was returned by the Commissioners as the property of
William Gough, who was found to be an " Irish Papist " and to
hold the lands as his inheritance subject to a rent of ten shillings
a year to the Lord of Howth, and " suit and service to the court
leet and baron at Howth." The lands were estimated to contain
a hundred and forty acres, sixty being arable, three meadow,
sixty pasture and heath, and seventeen rock, and were valued by
a jury at thirty pounds, but by the Commissioners at twice that
amount. The boundaries were given as being on the east " a
parcel of the Lord of Howth's called Sancer,"^ on the south the
sea, on the west " Corkin's bank and a ditch heading to a
chapel," and on the north the hill called Shelmartin. Upon the
lands the Commissioners reported there were " one stone-house
slated, an office-house tiled, a barn of stone, and six thatched
cottages," which were valued by a jury at three hundred pounds.

' i.e. the keep and the gateway-tower.

- There are the walls of ;i chapel in the demesne, but probably that chapel was
erected at a later time, and the reference is to the remains of St. Fintan's Church.
^Presumably a corruption of Censure [nupra, p. 3).

114 HOWTH AND ITS OWXEES.

Besides the island of Howth and Sutton three hohhngs on
the former denomination are separately mentioned. The first was
a holding in the town of Howth which had heen formerly owned
by Nicholas Brian, who was found to be an " Irish Papist " and
to have held in fee from Lord Ilowth. By him the holding had
been sold in 1648 to Edward Stokes, who was also an " Irish
l*apist," and was then in the possession of Joan Stokes, who was
his widow and a Protestant.^ It contained "one house thatched
with several houses of ofiice valued by the jury at twenty
shillings," and was bounded on the east by the east street of
Howth, on the south and north by Lord iiowth's land, and on
the west by Bealing's land. The second holding was called White's
freehold, and was owned by Dominick White of Dublin, who was
found to be an " Irish Papist " and to hold in fee-farm from Lord
Howth. It contained a thatched house and garden, and stood in
the town of Howth, bounded on the east by the east street, on the
south by Bealing's land, on the west by Lord Howth's land, and
on the north by the church -hill of Howth. The third holding was
known as Bealing's freehold, and was owned by Lawrence Bealing
of Bealingstown, wlio was found to be an " Irish Papist " and to
hold under Lord Howth, " paying some duties." It was said to be
divided into four separate parts, each of them enclosed by Lord
Howth's land, and to contain some small cottages valued by a
jury at two pounds.

Shortly before the Eestoration, in the early montlis of the year
1660, the General Convention of Ireland decided that a subsidy
should be raised, and that it should be levied on every person
over fifteen years of age, the amount rising in proportion to the
rank of the individual. For that purpose a census^ was compiled,
and persons of rank were mentioned by name under the descrip-
tion of tituladoes. In the case of Howth this census shows that
the inhabitants over fifteen numbered one hundred and seventy-
four persons, of whom forty-five were of English, and one hundred
and twenty-nine of Irish origin. In " the house of Howth " there

1 She married subsequently Christopher St. Lawrence, and died before 1G68.
See Intestacy Grant.

' In the Royal Irish Academy. Cf. Notes and Queries, ser 10, vol. ii, p. 16.

THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE DEVOLUTION. 115

"were twenty-seven residents, fourteen English and thirteen Irish,
the tituladoes, besides Lord Howth, being Peter Wynne and
William Fitzwilliani,^ who were described as gentlemen. In the
town of Howth there were one hundred and eleven inhabitants,
twenty- five of English and eighty-six of Irish origin, the
ti^Alladoes being Thomas Lea- and Richard St. Lawrence,^ who
were also described as gentlemen. In the Walls* there were
two English, and two Irish, residents, the titulado being Thomas
Dongan, gentleman ;" and of the remaining inhabitants there were
found in Saucer nine Irish ; in Corstown, one English and three
Irish ; and in Sutton, three English and sixteen Irish. After the
Restoration, in connexion with the levying of the Hearth-Money
Tax, lists of the householders, with the number of hearths for
which they were liable, were made out ; and the two rolls that
are available for the county of Dublin® show that the Castle of
Howth was rated for twelve hearths, and that, in 1664, Eichard
St. Lawrence was rated for three and John Burniston for five ;
and, in 1667, Thomas Lightfoot was rated for two, Abraham Ellis
for four, Colonel Newcomen for six, and the College for two.

Into the possession of John Burniston and Colonel Newcomen
the lands of Sutton had successively passed. Before the establish-
ment of the Commonwealth they were in the possession of
William Gough, whose wife was a kinswoman of Lord Howth, one
of the Berfords of Kilrow ; and although the ownership was
forfeited by him on account of his religion, they continued in his
occupation until his death. In his will, which was dated

1 Infra, p. 123, n. 3.

- At the time of his death he was " the keeper of his Majesty's Council Chaniher
in Ireland." As appears from his will, which is dated December 18, 1672, he was h
friend of the learned Dr. Dndley Loftus, and left all his property to his friend Jane
Lyndon, who lost no time in obtaining probate, which was granted the day after the
will was made. He left a tankard to Trinity College as a mark of respect and good
wishes. (In the Prerogative Collection.)

^ Probably a son of Robert St. Lawrence {supra, p. 108).

* It was afterwards known as the Studwalls {supra, p. 3) ; possibly it was the site
of a half-timbered house.

= Possibly a member of the Iristi Judiciary, who was appointed in 1644 to a seat in
the Chief Place, and after the Restoration to a seat in the Exchequer. See "Notes
on the Irish Judiciary during the reign of Charles II."

^ In the Public Record Office of Ireland.

I 2

IIG HOWTH AND ITS OWNEKS.

April 26, 1658/ he describes himself as of Sutton, as does also his
widow, who made her will two years later on May 1, 1060.^ It
appears from his widow's will that she had married again, her
second husband being Captain Henry Ussher, a cousin of the great
Primate ; and she mentions in it a number of persons who were
probably then well known in Howth and its neighbourhood :
Mr. John Walker, who was to dispose of money for pious uses,
and distribute three barrels of corn amongst the poor; Mary
Fitzwilliam, who -was left her gorget ; Mary Barret, who was left
her serge gown and petticoat ; and Mrs. Geoghegan, who was to
have her hoUand smock and bedclothes. Besides, she leaves to
her mother her long riding-scarf and saddle-cloth, to her sister
Gernon her silk gown and petticoat, to her sister Cecilia her curled
hood and small scarf, to her sister Bridget a lawn handkerchief, to
her maid her red waistcoat, and to her nurse her enamelled ring.
After her death, John Burniston, who was sword-bearer in Ireland
under the Commonwealth, entered into possession of Sutton, and
expended three hundred pounds on the premises, which were leased
to him by order of the King, who was sensible of services which he
had rendered in "the worst of times" to the Duke of Gloucester and
the Princess Elizabeth.^ Not long after the grant to Burniston,
the premises passed, as appears from the Hearth-Money Eoll, to
Colonel Newcomen, who was afterwards knighted and known as
Sir Thomas Newcomen, and whose residence at Sutton is marked
by a tablet bearing his arms, which is preserved at Sutton House.
He served in the army, but as another Sir Thomas Newcomen was
also an officer at the same time, his career is not easily disentangled.
In his will, which bears the dates February 16 and May 9, 1695,*
he mentions that he had been twice married, his first wife being
a sister of the famous Earl of Tyrconnel, and his second, who
survived him, a connexion of the Earl of Carlingford, and refers
to five daughters, who were married, and to an only son, who he
desires should be sent abroad with a tutor, and bred up under great

' In the Prerogative Collection.

2 Idem. Cf. Ball Wright's Ussher Memoirs.

^ Cal. S. P., Irel., 1647-60, p. 845 ; 1660-62, p. 498.

•* In the Prerogative Collection.

THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE EE VOLUTION. 117

strictness of discipline " wholly to his books, and by all means to
be kept from ever having thought of turning soldier." His bequests
include two coaches and coach-horses, a roan pad with a red
saddle and pistols, and a breeding stud, which he leaves to his sou
in curious opposition to his directions in regard to the youth's
education. He desired that he should be buried in Clonsilla
churchyard, where there is a tombstone to his first wife,* and that
his body should be carried thither privately.

In the early Restoration years the prebend of Howth was
given to the father of the Grattans, whose connexion with Swift
has secured for them immortality : —

My time, 0 ye Grattans, was happily spent,
"When Bacchus went with me, wherever I went ;
For then I did notliing but sing, laugii, and jest,
Was ever a trooper so merrily blest r •

As his seat, Belcamp, was adjacent to llowth, Patrick Grattan
discharged the duties of the cure himself, and was possibly without
.a church, as thirty years before the parish church was in a decaying
state, and St. Fintan's Church was doubtless rootless. Patrick
Grattan, who had been chaplain to the first Duke of Ormond, is
.said to have been " a worthy considerable divine," and v/as the
most hospitable man in the neighbourhood of Howth.^ Of the
■clergy of the Roman Catholic Church, little is then known ; but
even during the Commonwealth period one was in charge of
Howth. He was a member of the Capuchin Order, Father
Anselm, and, as the Bishop of Canea tells us, he took up his abode
at Sutton. It was only by hiding in the caverns and assuming
various disguises that he was able to escape those who sought his
life ; and it was sometimes only through the help of those who
differed from him in faith, like the Lord Howth of the time, that
he was saved from starvation.*

Soon after the Restoration an attempt was made to lessen the
danger of the peninsula to navigation, by the erection of two
lighthouses upon it. At that period the light was afforded by a

1 See Hist, of Co. Dublin, iv. 14. ^ The Song.

^ Marquess of Ormonde's Manuscripts, viii, p. 2'.)2.
* Bishop of Canea, op. cit., p. 56.

118 HOWTH AND ITS OWXEES.

fire of coal or wood, and the house consisted generally of a tower
surmounted by a brazier in which the fire was made ; but at
Howth the arrangements were even more simple, and comprised a
slightly raised platform with " a great iron pan," from which a
coal fire blazed at night.' Like all works of public utility, the
establishment of the lighthouses at Howth was due to private
enterprise, and their maintenance led to abuses. Their projector
was a certain Sir Robert Reading, an ancestor of the Duke of
Abercorn. He had married the widow of Sir Charles Coote, who>
was created Earl of Mountrath for his services at the time of the
Restoration ; and he used the influence which he possessed through
her to obtain from the King in the year 1667 a patent granting to
him and her the right to levy dues on shipping for the maintenance
of the lighthouses on Howth, and of others which he had constructed,
elsewhere in Ireland. ^ But four years later the shipowners of
Chester and Liverpool represented that, owing to the frequent
voyages their ships made to Dublin, these dues were a grievance
and a burden ; and the King was pleased to substitute an annual
grant of five hundred pounds for such dues as were imposed
on home trade. At the beginning of the eighteenth century,
when the patent had become vested in Sir Robert Reading's
son-in-law, the sixth Earl of Abercorn, complaint was made that
of the lighthouses specified in it only two, namely, one at Howth
and one near Waterford, remained in working order, and that
these were not sufficiently maintained ; and the commissioners of
the revenue were obliged to secure surrender of the patent from
the Earl of Abercorn, which was probably not accomplished
without adequate compensation, and to take into their own hands
the maintenance of the lighthouses.^

Notwithstanding the lighthouses, the sea continued to exact a
terrible toll of shipwrecks at Howth. In 1674, during a great
tempest, a vessel was blown from Riugsend on the rocks of Howth ;
in 1677 another ship is recorded to have been wrecked there ; and

1 O'Keeffe's Recollections, i, 276.

' Cal. S. P., Doni., 1G71, p. 479 ; Marquess of Ormonde's Manuscripts, vii, 831.
^ Miscellaneous Papers prior to 1760 in the Public Record Office of Ireland ;
House of Commons Journals under date Oct. 7, 1715.

THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE EEVOLUTION. 119

in 1696 the ""William" packet-boat was cast away near Sutton
when coming from Holyhead, and all the passengers, including
Brigadier-General Edward EitzPatrick, an ancestor of the Earls of
Upper-Ossory, were drowned.'

In private life as well as in public the liberality of the Lords
of Howth is conspicuous at that period, and their connexion with
families which differed from them in regard to affairs of state and
religion was of assistance to them in preserving an even course
during those difficult times. They appear no longer prominent in
martial enterprises, but they show an ever- increasing interest in
the chase. Amongst the younger members of the house of Howth
a mighty huntsman was then found in the person of Michael
St. Lawrence, a brother of Eobert St. Lawrence, who died at
Howth in 1637, and a brother-in-law of the Lord Howth of his
time,^ and he is the principal figure in an Irish hunting-song, one
of the oldest in existence, which is preserved amongst the Sloane
Manuscripts^ in the British Museum.

Ye merry boys all that live in Fingal,

I will tell you a tale, how a hare catch'd a fall :

There was Michael St. Lawrence and Patrick Aspoor,

Robin Hodgier and Jackey Radmoor,*

"With Robin Hilliard with his gay little grey,^

And Stephen Ashpole, a gay merry hoy.

They met on a day in St. Lawrence's Hall,

Where he gave 'em hot waters, good meat, and strong ale,

And one thing more may be said for his fame,

For his sport he ventured his eye and his arm.

1 Haliday's " Scandinavian Dublin," p. 242 ; Cal. S. P., Dom., 1677-78, p. 487 ;
D'Alton's "Hist, of Co. Dublin," p. 121.

- Chancery Decree, Feb. 3, 1691-2. Michael St. Lawrence, who resided at
Raheny, attained to a great age ; in 1638 he witnessed his cousin Edward's will
[supra, p. 108), and in 1712 he was still alive (Brit. Mus. ms. 21138, 44). In the
following year a grant of his goods was made to Ann St. Lawrence as his heir. He
had a son called Richard. The husband of Joan Stokes was his nephew, possibly
a son of his brother Robert. See will of his sister Dorothea St. Lawrence in the
Dublin Collection. 3 jjo. 900, f. 54.

* In his will, which is dated March 5, 1687-8, John Radmore describes himself as
of Dublin, and mentions as cherished possessions a saddle an<i a fowling-piece.
(Dublin Collection.)

^ In his will, which is dated July 13, 1677, Robert Hilliard, who describes himself
as a distiller, now of the city of Dublin, mentions a design of crossing the seas on
a journey to London, and, in spite of his exploits on his grey horse, exhibits great
terror at the hazard and dangers of the channel. (Dublin Collection.)

120 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

There was St. Lawrence's Scutty and her daughter Betty,

Short-cropt curried Iron, and merry-hunting Dow,

Hodgier's Hector, a gay greyliouiid.

He'll take thiee yards at every bound.

And tho' he had a blemish upon one ej'e,

It was hard for all that to give him the go-by.

They went over the ditches with their dogs and bitches,

They spar'd not to beat bear, barley and wheat.

Last out of some briars, they got their desires,

There started a hare that ruiined most rare,

Which set 'etii a-barking with all their train,

Till the merry light hare was very nigh slain.

But in a fine mead, she being almost spent,
She made her last will, ay and testament ;

" Cropt cur, with thee," says she, " I will not stay,

"Nor with true-running Scutty, that showed such fair play,

" But to thee, brave Hector, 1 yield up my life,"

And so Hector bore her and ended the strife.

But Patrick Ashpoor he spoke a bold word,

He would go to Baldoyle to see what the town could afford ;

And when the boys came to the gay town.

They got salt and yellow bacon,

Which they then just cut down from the smoke.

And Patrick Ashpoor play'd a very good cook,
He slash'd it, and wasli'd it, and I know not what.
Meat not one bit he left on't but 'twas all he eat,
The drink it was good and so M'as the bread.
They took of their liquor till they were all red,
And when they had done they sang the hare's knell.
And if I had more, faith more I would tell.

Thomas Lord Howth, who succeeded Lo the title and estate as
heir-presumptive, was living at the time of his brother's death
near the home of their mother's family, at a place called Wiston,
in Suffolk.' He had joined, as a resident in the Pale in 1625, in
the voluntary contribution to James the First's revenue ; but at
the time of his mother's death he was evidently living in England,
and married there a neighbour of his mother's family, Elinor,
daughter of William Lynne of Wormington and Little Horksley
in Essex. Owing to the disturbed state of Ireland, he appears to
have been afraid to come over himself ; but a few months after his
brother's death he sent over a representative. In a letter dated
at London on St. Patrick's Day, 1645, he asks the Duke of Ormond

1 The " Visitation of Essex," 1(334, p. 4i0 ; " The Genealogist," N.S., i, 149 ;
Cal. S. P., Irel., 1625-32, p. 70.

THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE REVOLUTION. 121

as Lord Lieutenant, to grant protection to his servant, whom he is
sending to inquire about the estates to which he has succeeded
" on the death of his dear brother/' and tells him that ever since
the troubles began he had lived a private, retired life in his house
in Suffolk, where they enjoyed much quietness.^

His arrival in Ireland appears to have been postponed for
•some years, and meantime Howth Castle was occupied by his
brother's widow and her daughters. It was a very trying
experience for her with war on every side. From H.M.S.
" Swan," riding to the north of Howth, the captain writes on
March 26, 1645, to Ormond asking the strength of a Parliament
ship which he may find it necessary to attack, and requesting leave
to impress men at Howth and Baldoyle ;■ and on February 13, 1646,
the captain of a Parliament ship reports to his masters that
he has taken under Howth a small bark with letters to the
Lords Ormond and Digby.^ In the summer of 1646 the Royalists
were reduced to the lowest ebb. The condition of Dublin and of
the whole of Leinster was said by the council to be miserable ; the
coasts were infested with the ships of the Parliament, and
■supplies for the army had to be procured by means " far below
the dignity " of the King.^ On sending troops to Howth in the
autumn, Ormond, with characteristic gallantry, tried to spare so
far as possible the Dowager Lady Howth, and directed that as she
was " a widow and sole woman " they were not to be quartered
in Howth Castle, but were to be billeted in the town of Howth,
where she had offered to find them accommodation.^

Her husband had associated with her in the care of their
daughters, his uncle, Captain Thomas St. Lawrence, a cousin of
her uncle Willoiighby, Benjamin Culme, who was then Dean
of St. Patrick's Cathedral, and her uncle's brother, Nicholas
Willoughby, who had been for many years resident in Ireland."
But they were not in a position to assist her. Captain Thomas
•St. liawrence, who did not long survive his nephew, made, a

1 Caite Papers, xiv, 266.

3Cal. S. P., Irel., 1633 47, p. 437.

* Carte Papers, xix, 335.

* Carte Papers, xiv, 304.

* Carte Papers, xvii, 474.

s Trevelyan Papers, iii, 148.

122 HOWTH AXD ITS 0W:NEES.

few months after his nephew's deatli, on May 6, 1645, "an
addition to his will," which shows the distracted state of the
country in his closing years. In it he ignores altogether his former
testamentary dispositions, and deals only with " moneys in his
custody." To the Dowager I.ady Howth, to her daughters " Susan,
Bess, and Frances," to his brother Richard, and to his man Ned
Sweetman, he leaves legacies of various amounts, and assigns
fifteen pounds to be distributed amongst the poor by Mr. Shergoll,
to whom he leaves the residue to defray the expenses of his funeral,
and for other purposes as to which he had given verbal directions.
Dean Culme was fully occupied with the care of his cathedral
and his own family, and Nicholas Willoughby was a broken and
ruined man. Before the rebellion of 1641 he had been resident
in the county of Fermanagh, whence he was obliged to flee, and
he would have starved only for the kindness of Lord and Lady
Howth, who received him, together with his wife and four
children, into their house, and "bestowed help upon his son
towards his training in Dublin College."* After her husband's
death the Dowager Lady Howth continued to befriend him, but,
writing to his brother in January, 1648, Nicholas tells him that
" his noble friend, Lady Howth, grows behindhand and has left off
housekeeping," and without her assistance he could not long sustain
life, and on June 16 he closed his career.^

About that time the Dowager's brother-in-law, Thomas Lord
Howth, summoned up courage to come to Ireland. He enjoyed
his honours, however, only a short time, and died at Howth in the
following year, his will being dated August 5, 1649, and proved
on October 3 following.' He desired that his body might be laid
in the chancel of the church of Howth, and bequeathed to his wife
the farm of Killester, and to his second son his estate in Essex and
Suffolk, " that is to say in Colchester and Wiston." He left two
sons, William and Thomas, and a daughter, Martha.

William Lord Howth, who succeeded to the title and estate as
his father's eldest soil, had been educated in Colchester Grammar

1 Trevelyan Papers, pp. 215, 218, 245. - Ibid., pp. 264, 267.

3 In the Prerogative Collection.

THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE EEVOLUTION. 123

School, which he had entered on January 11, 1639, at the age of
ten/ and had served in the army of Charles the First.^ Notwith-
standing that fact, his liberty appears to have been in no way
curtailed by the Commonwealth authorities, and soon after his
father's death he married his cousin, Elizabeth St. Lawrence, the
second daughter of liis uncle Nicholas Lord Howth.* Her eldest
sister, Susan, had married her cousin Michael St. Lawrence,
and her younger sister, Frances, yet another cousin, Sir James
Montgomery. Their mother was residing at Eaheny, in the house
built by the blind lord,* and there was evidently much intercourse
with her relations. Her cousin, the third Viscount Montgomery,
created after the Eestoration Earl of Mount Alexander, stayed in
1653 at Howth,^ and Nicholas Willoughby's son entertained in
1655 Lord Howth when on a visit to the county of Fermanagh.^

At the time of the Eestoration, William gave material help
to the royal cause, and, in addition to benefits connected with his
estate, he was granted lauds in the county of Louth which had been
forfeited by one of his kinsmen, and was given a company in the
army.' Some years later the Duke of Ormond commended him
to the king's favour, on the ground of his being a gentleman of
ancient family, who had been very constant in the royal service,
and suggested his appointment to the command of the King's
Horse.* On two occasions it fell to his lot to receive the king's re-
presentative at Howth, in 1662 when the Duke of Ormond landed
there, and in 1669 when Lord Eobartes did so. Ormond was
received with no little state, and spent the night of his arrival at
Howth Castle, as appears from the following minute made by the

1 " The Genealogist," N.S., i, 149. » Cal. S. P., Irel., 1660-62, p. 87.

' She was previously married to the Honble. Eichard Fitzwilliam, the eldest son
of the first Viscount Fitzwilliam of Merrion (of. Lodge's Peerage, iii, 202; Hist, of
Co. Dublin, ii, 14). As has been mentioned, in 1660 a William Fitzwilliam was
residing at Howth (supra, p. 115), and a John Fitzwilliam was a witness of her
father's will.

* Trevelyan Papers, iii, 281.

^ The Montgomery Manuscripts, ed. William Montgomery, Belfast, 1830.

* Trevelyan Papers, iii, 278.

' Cal. S. P., Irel., 1660-62, pp. 87, 355, 537 ; Dalton's " Irish Army Lists,"
pp. 47, 49.

8 Cal. S. P., Irel., 1666-69, p. 492.

124 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

privy council on July 27, 1662 : " Sir Henry Tichbourne, Sir
Paul Davys, and Sir Theophilus Jones of this Board are directed to
repair to Howth, where the Duke of Ormond, Lord Lieutenant of
this Kingdom, is expected by the blessing of God to land to-day,
and shall signify to him that they have been sent by the Justices
and Council to attend him and congratulate him on his arrival.
They shall inform his Grace that the Earl of Orrery is prevented
hy an accession of the gout from going to meet his Grace. The
Lord Chancellor, and body of the Council now about Dublin shall
attend the Lord Lieutenant at Howth to-morrow to know his
pleasure." Lord Eobartes, who arrived on September 20, 1669,
about one o'clock, was met by Lord Howth, and attended by him
to Howth Castle, where a handsome entertainment was provided,
and a committee of the privy council waited on the Viceroy.^

The position of custos rotulorum in the county of Dublin was,
in 1661, conferred on William, who was active in the Irish Parlia-
ment of his time, and he is mentioned in the summer of 1665 as
presiding at the general sessions at Kilmainham with the King's
serjeant-at-law, Piobert Griffith.'^ From his will,' which is dated
May 14, 1671, it is evident that he had a wide circle of friends,
including his beloved Earl of Ossory, whom he appoints guardian
-of his children, and John Keatinge, afterwards Chief Justice of
the Common Pleas, Nicholas Henshaw, a leading Dublin physician,
and John Byron, his lieutenant and neighbour at Baldoyle,
whom he appoints his executors. A month after the execution
•of his will, on June 17, 1671, lie died, and according to an entry
in Ulster's Office was " interred with funeral rites on tlie 21st in
the cliurch of Howth." In hi« will he desired to be buried under
the monument of his ancestors, near his father, but directed that
a new vault was to be subsequently made, " inasmuch as the old
vault where his father and mother now lie is well-nigh full," and
that liis parents' bodies and his own were to be laid in it. He
left two sons, Thomas, to whom he bequeathed the great seal-
ring of his family, and Charles, to whom he bequeathed his English

' Cal. S. P., Irel., 1660-62, p. 578 ; 1669-70, p. 6.
* Hist. MSS. Com., Kept. 9, App., pt. ii, p. 171.
2 In the Prerogative Collection.

'■1

THE COMMONWEALTH AND THE EE VOLUTION. 125.

estate ; and three daughters : Mary, who married, in 1672, Henry,
third Earl of Mount- Alexander, and who died on August 26, 1705 ;:
Sarah, who married Thomas Stepney, of the county of Meath ;
and Martha, who married Hugh O'Neill.

Thomas, who succeeded to the title and estate as the eldest
son of William Lord Howth, was for nine years after his father's
death in a state of pupilage, and did not marry until 1687, when
he took to wife a kinswoman of his own, Mary, eldest daughter of
Henry Barnewall, second Viscount Barnewall, of Kingston, by his
second wife Mary, daughter of Richard Nugent, Earl of West-
meath. In the parliament of James the Second, and in that of
William the Third, he took his seat, and he joined in 1697 in the
declaration of attachment to the person and government of
William the Third. According to a tradition existing a hundred
years ago, William the Third honoured him with a visit at Howth,
where the actual room occupied by the King used to be pointed
out,^ but there is ground for doubt as to the tradition being well
founded.

Towards the close of Queen Anne's reign, on the suggestion of
the second Duke of Ormond, Thomas constructed a quay for
landing coal for the lighthouse, and during the opening years of
George the First's reign, he had much difficulty in obtaining com-
pensation for it, and for injury done to his property by carrying
the coal to the lighthouse." At the time he succeeded to the title
the port of Howth appears to have been used by persons landing
surreptitiously, and in 1678 nineteen Irish officers, who had been
in the French service, were reported to have come ashore there.*

The Grattans were amongst Thomas's closest friends, and
after the death of their father, Robert Grattan, Swift's particular
ally, who was Thomas's chaplain, was appointed at Thomas's
request to the prebend and rectory of Howth. ^ In his will,
which is dated June 3, 1723,* Thomas mentions not only Robert

^ The room is now used as a billiard-room. See Cromwell's " Excursions through
Ireland," i, 181.

- Miscellaneous Papers already cited ; Brit. Mus. MS. 21138, 44.

3 Cal. S. P., Dom., 1677-78, p. 64G.

^ Archbishop King's Correspondence, under date Xov. i, 1704.

^ In the Prerogative Collection. See for cadets at that time Appendix H.

126 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

Grattan, but also two of his brotliers, John, who lield another
piebeud, and James, who was a physician. > Thomas was survived
by four sons, William, Henry, Nicholas, and Oliver, and a daughter,
Elizabeth, who married first, in 1716, Edward Eice, the eldest son
of James the {Second's Chief Baron, and secondly, in 1721, Dominick
Quin. His death took place on May 30, 1727, and was made the
subject of an elegy which, though lacking in literary merits, is
testimony to the high esteem in v hich he was held : —

Til us sets the shiniug planet of the day,

Whose beams great Nature's inmost parts survey,

But « hen departed to his oozy urn,

All nature does his gloomy absence mourn ;

So, great Fitzwilliam, is thy death dejilored.

And widowed Howth laments her breathless Lord.

0 ! that the wise Pythagoras could maintain

'J'hat souls might be enshrined in men again,

Then would thy friends exempt from sorrow be.

And thou niightest live to vast eternity.

But see, in solemn woe, a moving throng

Augustly silent, bears the corpse along ;

Now tlie loved frame in mouldering dust is laid,

To hug the grave's uncomfortable shade ;

For as from dust arose the well-turned frame.

So must it basely mingle with the same ;

But thy free spirit from its partner flown,

Now hovers loosely in an air unknown,

Nor wanders in imagined shades alone,

But fluttering straight to its bright source retires.

To live in bliss, amidst the heavenly choirs.

Behold this stone whose vault contains
More precious dust than India's veins.
For honour's sake then shed a tear.
Since honour's self lies buried here.-

' In his last illness Thomas was attended by Dr. Grattan and by another of
Swift's friends. Dr. Helsham. Their visits and fees are set out in a contemporary
account book. The fees varied in amount, the highest being £2 19*. 8d., and the
lowest £1 9s. Sd. On only two days out of eleven do they seem to have come together
to see the patient.

2 " An Elegy on the much lamented death of the Right Honourable Thomas, Lord
of Howth, who departed this life this present Tuesday, May the thirtieth, 1727."
Trinity College Library, Irish Pamphlets, vol. iv, no. 142.

( 127 )

CHAPTER VIII.

IN THE TIME OF SWIFT AND GRATTAN.

Some use has already been made of the descriptive talent of an
English rival of the Celtic panegyrists of Howth, who appears
towards the close of the eighteenth century.^ According to the
title-page of his poem, his chief qualification for his task was the
fact that he had held the office of commissary of musters, and his
muse is not past criticism ; but his knowledge of Howth and
fervour in communicating it cannot be denied. As he tells us in
the preface, he had resided on the peninsula for many months, and
had become so enamoured of it as to believe that it could not
be rivalled on the globe for the luxuriance of its prospects, or
surpassed in the neighbourhood of Dublin, to which he descends
with the suddenness of an aviator, for the purity and sweetness of
its air, the variety of its recreations, and. the privacy and con-
venience of its baths. The poem consists of eight hundred lines in
the heroic style, and shows that, notwithstanding the different
circumstances of the time, the natural features that attracted
then were those that most charm to-day.

The first part of the poem is devoted to a description of the
prospects as seen from the summit of the hill, and begins with
some ecstatic verses, of which the following may be taken as a
specimen : —

Fair opening to the west a prospect lies,

More beauteous far than Titian ever drew ;
The rising background fills the expanded eyes,

And lifts the villas up to view.

The poet refers next to Dublin, a city whose " mighty bulk the
eye may comprehend," and to the Liffey, which he likens to a canal
crowded with shipping, " a wood of many a leafless tree." Turning
to the sea, he draws inspiration from Ireland's Eye and Lambay,

' " Howth," a Descriptive Poem, by Abraham Bosquet. Dubl., 1787.

128 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

from a fleet of " ships, sloops, barks, brigs, and boats " which
opportunely appeared, and from the Albion cliffs which bounded
his eastern prospect. Looking landwards, he extols Marino, which
smiled then like a second Eden, and the gay Blackrock, whose
bathing-place enjoyed much fame ; and he beholds " embattled
groves o'er groves embattled rise " until terminated to the south
by Bray Head, Sugar Loaf, and double Caucasus, and to the north
by the mountains of Newry and Mourne, which are at last lost to-
him in distant skies.

The second part of the poem describes a tour of the peninsula,
which some persons accomplished in an hour, but which, under
the guidance of the poet, who thought such haste unpardonable, is
made more leisurely. Starting from the isthmus,

A sweet improvement hangs upon the right,
The park and gardens wind along the coast ;

Here the court holds an elevated site,

By groves protected from the northern blast ; '

and the town "where learning held of old her seat secured" is visited,
and the mote, church, and altar-tomb noticed. Then the tourist
descends to Balscadden Bay, where a bathing-liouse built of stone
stood, and climbs from it to the cliff where Puck's Rock displays
" the fiend in adamantine bonds," On the way the great cave,
in which seals then concealed their young, is entered, and an
inhabitant of Howth, who was wont to encounter there single-
handed these amphibious foes, is recalled. Avoiding the most
dangerous path, where, says the poet,

Oft to the mouldering cliff like bat I've clung,

Unaiile to advance, scarce power to retreat,
"Whilst in my ear the dreadful surges sung,

And screaming sea-mews marked my doubtful fate,

the tourist is conducted to a platform of the old lighthouse, where
the poet pictures for him a storm. Then, ascending to the Baily by
the grass slope, down which clinkers from the lighthouse fire rolled,
he sees the rocks, " a giant offspring from the parent cleft," and the
cave formerly much used as a receptacle for smuggled goods ; and,

' At that time, according to the poet, the Castle was called the court.

''J<'UJj^C,-^.<:m.U,„ rfy: I:,

THE HARBOUR civca 1790

THK RESCUE OF THE AERONAUT

IN THE TIME OF SWIFT AND GEATTAN. 129

having been provided with a gun, " a thundering cylinder of ample
bore," he wages war upon the seals that were then incessantly
sporting round the shore. .From the Baily he crawls on hands
and feet to the cape on the other side, and looks down from the
giddy height, where a youth had fallen over, on the glittering
sand below with the shells and pebbles glowing in the sun.
Thence advancing along the south side of the peninsula, he
explores " Neptune's grot " and its petrifactions, and finally turns
inland across " Saucer's sunny slopes and Sutton's downs," where

Abundant game around in mazes run,

On foot the hare, the rabbit, and the fox ;
Or now at seat, or basking in the sun.

Or there in wily sleep sly Eeynard on the rocks,

until a horn sounds, and the music of deep-tongued hounds is

heard : —

But lo ! the close-embodied pack appear,

The open cry proclaims the hollo-view,
And round the precipice in full career,

The flying war vociferous pursue.

According to Abraham Bosquet — for so the poet was named —
Howth lay then unheeded and neglected, but before his time Swift's
friend, Mrs. Delany, had discovered its charms and had described
them with her usual sprightliness. Writing in the gloomy month
of January on the anniversary of the martyrdom of Charles the
First, in the year 1759, she says ;' " After church Mrs. Hamilton,
and her daughter Sally, and I went with the six horses to take the
air as far as the hill of Howth, which is about ten English miles ;
it is all the way on the strand close to the sea, the view of which
with the ships in the harbour, the city of Dublin, little villages,
hills, mountains, and beautiful fields, and scattered houses, made a
most delightful appearance ; we did not return home till near six ;
we found our little fasting dinner ready for us." Howth was also,
before the poet's time, the objective for boating- parties from
Dublin, and dinners on the hill were not uncommon. Near the
lighthouse two actors of that day, John O'Keeffe and John Kane,
joined on one occasion in a jovial meal, and did not return to

' Correspondence, iii, 538.
K

130 HOWTH AND ITS OAVNERS.

their starting-place, " the ferry-boat slip at the bottom of Abbey
Street." until late the next morning.^ Horse-races were, too,
not unknown on the peninsula, and one of the earliest Dublin
newspapers, the " Intelligence," announces on March 31, 1730,
that on the previous day there had been a race " which yielded
great diversion to the spectators " at the Warren House near
Howth. The place of meeting, which is now a private house, was
no doubt then an inn, and as Bosquet tells us refreshments were
also to be found on Ireland's Eye :

Here Ireland's Eye from parent Howth detached,

A pleasing isle, with valleys dad in green,
For samphire famed, and lobsters wicker-catched,

And whiskered sea-calves of bold mastifF-mieti.

A sweet retreat, where many a happy pair
Excursions make, and frisk the island round.

Snatch reason's feast, and breathe salubrious air.
Then seek the spot with ready viands crowned.

The economic resources of Howth were much exploited

throughout the eighteenth century. In 1738 it was announced

that " the Lord of Howth hath lately discovered a fine marble

quarry on his estate at the hill of Howth," and that the marble

was " as finely variegated with red, blue, yellow, and other colours

as any in Italy or Egypt," and in 1754 it was announced that

" a rich lead-mine hath been lately discovered on the estate of

Lord Howth," and that " the assay masters who have tried it

judge it to be as good as any mine of the sort in Europe."*

Sea- water from Howth was then sold in Dublin, and seems to have

supplied a great want. In the summer of 1759 Catherine Dowdall,

who kept a grocer's shop at the corner of Pill Lane and Arran

Street, advertises " the genuine sea- water from Howth," and adds

that " as this is the season in which the sea-water is mostly used,

she takes care to have it in fresh every morning," and in the

winter of 1762 Andrew Ross, a saddler at the sign of the White

Horse in Dame Street, advertises that he has taken over Mrs.

Dowdall's business, and sells at the old address " the genuine sea-

1 "O'Keeffe's Recollections," i, 276.

2 "Gentleman's Magazine" for 1738, p. 546, and for 1754, p. 94.

IN THE TIME OF SWIFT AND GEATTAN. 131

water taken every day at Howth and sold as usual at two pence
per quart, or sixpence per gallon."^

The port of Howth had fallen into almost entire disuse as
regards traffic with England, but the fishery was still productive.
From it the Dublin market then drew, as it does to-day, its chief
supply of herrings, and in 1732 their conveyance in open boats
from Howth to Dublin is mentioned as one of the abuses from
which the city suffered." The reputation of the fishermen had in
no way declined, and when an early aeronaut who ascended from
Dublin was in danger of being lost at sea, it was to them an appeal
was first made to go to his rescue. The ascent, which took place
in May, 1785, had many witnesses, and on its becoming apparent
that the balloon was being carried away from the land some of
the spectators rode to Howth and begged the fishermen to
put out and save the aeronaut. The actual rescue was performed
by the crew of a pilot-boat, but would not have been undertaken
except for the intrepidity displayed by the Howth fishermen.'

As Bosquet tells us, the caves afforded great facilities to
smugglers to conceal illicit cargoes, and in the summer of 1764
Howth was the scene of a desperate affray between a party of
smugglers and some revenue officers, who had seized a hundred
and sixty casks of tea. The smugglers succeeded in recovering
from the revenue officers all the casks except seven, but in the
affray one of their number, called Higley, was killed, and another
was said to have been so severely wounded as to have sub-
sequently died.* Two years later, in a great gale, a lighter was
driven ashore at Howth with no less than thirty-five puncheons
of brandy on board, and hearing that the lighter had been
deserted. Lord Howth ordered his own servants to take charge
of the cargo until an owner could be found.^ In the beginning of

1 " Sleater's Public Gazetteer," i, 53 ; ii, 210 ; vi, 226.

* " An Examination of Certain Abuses existing in Dublin, 1732."

3 " Hibernian Magazine " for 1785, p. 279. An account appended to tbe print
gives all tbe credit of tbe rescue to the crew of tbe pilot-boat. The smaller boat in
the print is the Howth one, and the central figure in it a brother of Lord Edward
Fitzgerald.

* " Exshaw's Magazine " for 1764, p. 459.
5 «' Sleater's Gazetteer," v, 819.

K 2

132 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

the nineteenth century the descendants of men who had died
from wounds received in conflicts with the revenue officers were-
living at Howth, and one of them used to relate that an ancestor
had been killed by a button with which a revenue officer had
loaded his pistol when bullets failed.'

At the beginning of the period which this chapter covers the
prebend of Howth was held by another friend of Swift's, Samuel
Webber, or Philosopher Webber, as Swift called him ; and at the
time at which the chapter closes, it was held by the great pulpit
orator, Walter Blake Kirwan.* With Webber, who had a house
near Baldoyle, Swift stayed often ; and although Webber had
private means, and was " above all economy," Swift used to bring,
according to his custom, his own provisions, the supply for a stay
of five days being eight bottles of wine, and bread and meat for
three days.' In addition to the prebend of Howth, Kirwan was
given the living of St. Nicholas Without in Dublin. As was
remarked at the time, that church was roofless, while the parish
church of Howth lay " prostrate in a heap of ruins."* It was in
connexion with this preferment that Grattan, in speaking of
Kirwan, exclaimed : " What reward, St. Nicholas Within or
St. Nicholas Without ! The curse of Swift is upon him to have
been born an Irishman, and a man of genius, and to have used
it for the good of his country."* The services were performed
then in a chapel belonging to Lord Howth, the walls of which are
still standing a little to the north of the Castle,*^ and were taken
sometimes by a curate, an office filled at one time by Mervyn
Archdall, the author of the " Monasticon Hibernicum," and editor
of Lodge's " Peerage of Ireland." In the early part of the
eighteenth century the penal laws fell heavily on the Roman
Catholics. The Rev. Edward Treacy, who was then the parish
priest, was a special object of persecution, and his church was

' Cromwell's " Excursions tlirough Ireland," i, 182. - See Appendix I.

' Swift's Correspondence, v, 108, 193, 260.

* " Exshaw's Magazine " for 1789, p. 59.

* Lecky's " Hist, of Ireland," ii, 506.

•Austin Cooper's Note Book; "Post Chaise Companion," 1786, p. 305;
"Hibernian Magazine" for 1789, p. 53; Parliamentary Eeturn, vii, 12.

IX THE TIME OF SWIFT AND GRATTAN. 133

reported to be in a dangerous condition, and liable to fall down.
But throucrhout the century the Roman Catholic parishioners
-were not left without spiritual aid.'

The Castle and demesne underwent in Swift's day great im-
provement. Their appearance then will be seen from the
bird's-eye view, which is reproduced from a contemporary oil-
painting in a panel over the chimney piece of the Castle drawing-
room, and the contents of the rooms are known from inventories
which were compiled between the years 1746 and 1752.* It was
in Swift's time that the present entrance from the courtyard to
the Castle, the classic doorway and the broad steps and terrace,
were constructed, and uniformity in the appearance of the Castle
.secured by the erection of turrets and battlements in imitation of
those on the ancient keep. The bird's-eye view shows also that
an Italian garden was laid out, and that it terminated in a canal;
-but before the end of the eighteenth century, as will be seen from
the reproduction of an old engraving, this garden had under-
gone alteration. The round pond and great tree shown in the
view, however, still survive, the former being known as Black
-Jack's pond, and tlie latter as the family tree. A tablet, with the
St. Lawrence arms and the initials W. H., dating from that time^
is placed beside the entrance doorway, and formerly another tablet
recorded that

" This Castle was rebuilt by the Right Honorable William,
Lord Baron of Howth, Anno Domini, 1738."^

Entering tlie castle the hall contained then, as it does to-day,
" the great sword of Howth," some pieces of armour, and a picture
called a sea-triumph. On the walls hung, as a memorial of
the troublous times in the previous century, fifty muskets and
bayonets, with two back-swords, as well as trophies of the chase
in the shape of stags' horns and elks' antlers. On the left of the
hall was the dining-parlour, now the Inlliard-room, in which a
round drinking-table and bottle-tray were significant of the habits
of the time. In the list of the furniture it is noticeable that the

1 Bishop of Caiien, op. cit., pp. 57-59. See Appendix K.
* See Appendix L. ^ Austin Cooper's Note Book.

134 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

chairs were provided with loose covers of calfskin, and that
instead of a sideboard there was a black and white marble table,
which was surmounted by a cistern to match. On the right of
the hall, where the present dining-room lies, were my lady's bed-
chamber, my lord's dressing-room, and my lady's dressing-room.
In my lady's bed-chamber panel pictures, which still survive, were
then to be seen : the Siege of Buda, by Joseph Harrath, a German
animal and landscape painter of that period, which is over the
dining-room chimneypiece, and flower pieces, which are over the
dining-room doors. In the list of furniture the bed and bedding
are fully described, and are not without interest. The bedstead,
a tester one, was covered with scarlet English damask, and the
bedding consisted of a feather-bed and bolster, a white mattress,
silk blankets, a broadcloth under-blanket, and a Manchester
counterpane. The furniture included a mahogany bureau and
book-case with a looking-glass door, and on the walls there were
a chimney-glass with snake arms, London gilt, and a number of
prints, amongst which the Eake's Progress was conspicuous.
There was also much ornamental china, and a punch-bowl and
figures of /.Turks receive special mention. My lord's dressing-room
served as an additional armoury, and contained no less than seven
guns, and sufficient steel-mounted pistols, screw-barrel pistols, and
pocket-pistols to fill nine cases, besides hunting poles mounted
with bayonets and daggers. In my lady's dressing-room the
furniture resembled that of a boudoir, excepting a dressing-glass
in a swinging frame, which is said to have been diamond-cut.

The drawing-room was then known as "the great dining-
room," but was furnished as a drawing-room. Over the chimney-
piece was the " Prospect of the House of Howth," and over the
doors landscapes by Pdchard Carver, a Dublin painter of that
period, which still remain. On the walls there hung a whole-
length portrait of Swift by Francis Bindon, unique amongst
portraits of him, in that its history is determined with absolute
certainty, and nine family portraits, all, with one exception, still
in the Castle, besides a pair of tine carved branches, London gilt,
at the chimney-piece, and two pier sconces. The furniture in-
cluded two large Italian marble tables on walnut frames, for

O
X

O
O

<
X

IN THE TIME OF SWIFT AND GRATTAN. 135

which Spanish leather covers were provided, and a number of
Indian boxes and trunks, and a filigree cabinet. There were also
a six-leaf screen of Indian work on a scarlet ground, and a tea
equipage of burnished china, as well as an immense collection of
" curiosities in china and paste." The principal bed-rooms were
known as the castle room, the crimson room, the yellow- damask
room, the blue room, and the chintz room. In the castle room
the window and bed curtains were of blue silk-mohaii-, and the
chairs were covered with the same material. The bedstead was
supplied with a feather-bed and bolster of Flanders tick, a
Holland mattress, English blankets, and a white satin quilt, which
still survives, and is a fine example of the embroidery of that
period. The furniture included a number of Indian boxes and a
set of varnished dressing-boxes, together with a tortoise-shell
trunk mounted in silver, and an eight-leaf screen of Indian work
in gold. Amongst other chattels at that time in the Castle there
may be mentioned a bust of Dr. Steevens, after whom Steevens'
Hospital in Dublin is named, backgammon and card tables, and
carpets designed by Mr. Hogarth, which were evidently much
prized.

William, who succeeded on the death of his father, in 1727, to
the title and estate, had for eleven years occupied a seat in the
House of Commons, as representative of the borough of Eatoath,
in the county of Meath. He shared the representation with
Lieutenant-General Richard Gorges, who lived close to Eatoath,
at Kilbrew, and a year after the death of his father he married
one of General Gorges's daughters, although she was then only a
girl of seventeen, while he had reached the age of forty. Her
mother, who was a daughter of the first Lord Hamilton of
Glenawley, had been, previous to her marriage to General Gorges,
married to Sir Tristram Beresford, whose son was created Earl of
Tyrone, and she enjoys much celebrity as the heroine of what is
known as the Beresford ghost story. It is said that she had in
her youth discussed with the last Earl of Tyrone of the Power
family, the truths of Christianity, and that in accordance with
an agreement between them that the one who died first should
appear to the survivor, he presented himself to her after his death.

laC HOWTH AND ITS OWNEllS.

and assured her of the truth of the Christian revelation. At the
same time it is said that he predicted the events of her life, and in
particular her death on her forty-seventh birthday, a prediction
that is said to have come true.* To convince her of the reality
of his presence, the story adds, he touched one of her wrists, and
caused an injury, which she concealed afterwards by a black
ribbon, an appendage which, according to tradition, was shown in
the portrait of her preserved at Howth until the representation of
it was removed during the restoration of the painting.

The friendship between Swift and the owners of Howth,
which the great portrait of him proclaims, did not begin until
William's time, and was evidently attributable to the attractions
of William's wife. Swift used to call her his blue-eyed nymph,
and was so captivated by her as to interfere, at her request, in the
sordid affairs of the Irish Parliament on behalf of her brother,
wlio had been defeated in an election at Ratoath, and sought to
unseat his opponent by a petition. Although Swift told her, as
his custom was, that she ought " to go to a writing-school and
spelling-book," she wrote him three very pretty letters, which
Swift, althougli he did not commit himself to a reply, treasured.
The first of these letters, which is dated August 15, 1734, and was
written from Kilfane, in the county of Kilkenny, tells of a com-
mission from Swift to find him an easy riding-horse, and of the
efforts which she had made, although only three days in the
country, to execute it. The next letter, which is dated August 6,
17'i6, and was written from the county of Galway, conveys a
recommendation from her host, Lord Athenry, to Swift, as a
governor of the Erasmus Smith educational endowment, of a
candidate for the position of a schoolmaster. She opens the
letter by a reference to the fact that her former letter had never
been answered, a neglect that she imputes to the post, or anything
else except that she was forgot by her old friend, and she goes
on to tell him that she is constantly on horseback, visiting the
beauties of Connaught, and that she believes that if he would lend
her a little of his head, she would almost approach Addison in

' Complete Peerage, vii, 452. See also the " Argosy " for April and July, 1896.

IN THE TIME OF SWIFT AND GRATTAN.

137

some of his descriptions of Italy. The third letter, which is dated
St. Stephen's Day, 1737, and was apparently written from Howth,
announces a present of wild duck, partridge, plover, and venison,
which she says that she sends by " a blackguard," knowing the
Dean's generosity.^

The portrait of Swift was painted in the summer of 1735, and
is mentioned by him in a letter to his friend Sheridan, dated
June 16 in that year, in which he says that he has been fool enough
to sit for his picture at full-length by Mr. Bindon for his Lord
Howth, and had sat that day for two hours and a half. In a

Swift's Chair.

letter which is dated July 6 following, and which was written
from Kilfane, William expresses his obligation to his good Dean
of St. Patrick's for the honour he had done him in sitting for the
portrait, and says that he had asked Dr. Grattan to carry it to his
own house in order that a copy might not be substituted for the
original.- To commemorate further Swift's visits to Howth,
William took advantage of the bird's-eye view, and caused him to
1)6 represented in the left-hand corner, sitting on a seat. The

1 Swift's " Correspondence," v, 59, 81, 369 ; vi, 57.

Ibid., V, 194, 201.

138 HOWTH AND ITS OWXEliS.

earliest visit which Swift records that he paid to Howth was in
November, 1731/ but his visits were subsequently frequent and
not confined to the periods in which Lord Howth was in residence.
In December, 1734, he mentions riding to Howth when the Castle
was empty in connexion with an attack of illness that came upon
liim while there, and obliged him to lie down in the deserted
house.'

In his letter to Swift William is revealed as a man of con-
siderable attainments, with a clear insight and a facetious
disposition, but too much addicted to the pleasures of life. Ue
mentions in it that he had taken advice which Swift had given
him, and had kept good hours since he came last to Kilfane, but
two years later it is recorded that when dining at Howth, the
Lord Lieutenant of the day " contrived to be as drunk as any of
his predecessors had been at that place, although he came away
at six o'clock."^ To recruit himself William was wont to resort
in the summer to the Irish Harrogate of his time, Ballyspellan,
in the county of Kilkenny ; and as its hotel was notable for a
drawingroom of large size, he found there diversion as well as-
health : —

Good cheer, sweet air, much joy, no care,

Your sight, your taste, your smelling.
Your ears, j"our touch, transported much.

Each day at Ballyspellin.

Of sport William was passionately fond, and Kilfane was
taken by him for the indulgence of his taste. " Every second
day," he writes to Swift, " I am out otter-hunting " ; and in her
letter from Lo)d Athenry's seat his wife dilates on a monster
trout which her lord and she had just weighed and measured.
While with Lord Athenry William met an Augustinian friar of
sporting tastes, who bred beagles and " a double sort of wolfhound,"
and whistled a good tune, and he was asked by the friar to obtain
an exemption for him from the penal laws, in order that he might
not be driven to travel as far as Vienna, where he was promised

1 " An Epistle to Two Friends."

* Correspondence, v, 116.

* Mra. Stopford Sackville's Papers, Hist. MSS. Com., Rept. 9, App. pt. iii, p. 40.

IX THE TIME OE SWIFT AND GKATTAN. 139

a hearty welcome from Prince Eugene and the Prince of
Schwarzenberg, who kept the finest kennel in Europe."

But as a reference in his letter to Swift shows, William had
good judgment in regard to more important matters, and his
activity in the political life of his day obtained for him a seat
in the privy council. To him a remarkable work, entitled :
"Zoologica Medicinalis Hibernica,"- was dedicated, and its author
says that this dedication was in acknowledgment of William's
unceasing generosity, liberality, and great goodness. As appears
from legal proceedings in which he was involved with a steward,*
William was extensively engaged in agricultural operations,,
including the fattening for the Dublin market of cattle which he
bought in such distant fairs as that of Castlepollard ; and he gave
much employment. This care for his poorer neighbours is further
shown in his will, which testifies to his charity.

While William was living at Kilfane, in the winter of 1736,
two tragedies occurred in his family, remarkable not only in
themselves, but also in their connexion with each other. It
appears that at that time his niece, MissEice, the only child of his
sister by her first marriage, and a cousin, Miss Berford, lived
constantly with him and his wife, and the first tragedy was an
accident by which the latter lost her life. According to a con-
temporary account she was taking the air at Kilfane with a friend,
a Miss Hawley, in a four-wheel chaise, and on the driver getting
down to fasten the linch-pin of one of the wheels, the horses took
fright and ran into the river, with the result that the chaise was
overturned, and both Miss Berford and Miss Hawley were
drowned. When the news reached Dublin, William's brother,
Henry St. Lawrence, was staying at Kilbrew with the Gorges

' Letter preserved in Howth Castle.

- '' Zoologica Medicinalis Hibernica, or a Treatise of Birds, Beasts, Fislies, Reptiles,
or Insects which are commonly known and propagated in this kingdom, giving an
Account of their Medicinal Virtues, and their Names in English, Irish, and Latin, to
which is added a Short Treatise of the Diagnostic and Prognostic Parts of Medicine :
the former showing how by the Symptoms you may know a Distemper ; the latter
giving an Account of the Event thereof, whether it will end in Life or Death," by
John Keogh, A.B., Chaplain to the flight Honourable James Lord Baron of Kingston,.
Dublin, 1739.

2 William Lord Howth versus Eleazer Pierson, House of Lords, 1737.

140

HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

family, and Lady Howth's younger brother, Hamilton Gorges,
expressed commiseration for his sister, left with no companion
except Miss Rice, whom he characterized as a silly girl, which so
enraged her uncle, Henry St. Lawrence, that he forced Hamilton
Gorges to fight a duel with him. It was attended with fatal
consequences to Henry St. Lawrence ; but on Hamilton Gorges
being brought to trial, he was acquitted, and held by the jury to
have acted in self-defence.'

Thk lIoNiihi;. William !>t. Lawkence.

By the provisions of his will, which is dated January 30,
1744,2 William evinced his attachment to the seat of his
ancestors, as well as his care for his humble neighbours, ordering

' Hist. MSS. Com. Rept., 15, App. pt. vii, p. 312 ; Pue's "Occurrences," March
22-26, 1736-7; Orrerj- Papers,!, 191 ; Will of Henry St. Lawrence in Prerogative
Collection. ^ In the Prerogative Collection.

IN THE TIME OF SWIFT AND GRATTAN. 141

that during the minority of his eldest son the mansion-house,
out-offices, and improvements were to be kept in very good order
and repair, and leaving a substantial sum to be distributed
amongst the poor of Howth. He left also a sum of two hundred
pounds for the erection of a monument to his father's memory..
Besides his own family, he mentions his old friend and physician,
Dr. Grattan, and Dr. Grattan's cousin, the Rev. John Jackson,
who held then the prebend of Howth. He appointed as executors
and guardians of his children his wife and her brothers, Richard
Gorges and Hamilton Gorges, and Lord Athenry, but the appoint-
ment of the last was revoked in a codicil made a few days before
his death, on March 27, 1748, and in his place the Hon. Arthur
Blennerhasset, one of the justices of the King's Bench, who had
married his niece. Miss Rice, was named. He died on April 4^
1748, and left two sons, Thomas and William, and one daughter,
Mary. His second son, of whom a portrait here sketched is
preserved in the Castle, had been appointed, when only four-
teen years of age, an ensign in the army, and died a year after
his father, in April, 1749, of the smallpox ; and his daughter
married, in 1750, Sir Richard Gethin, of Gethin's Grot, in the
county of Cork, the fourth baronet of his line, and died on
October 4, 1787, in France.

Thomas, first Earl of Howth, who succeeded to the title and
estate on his father's death, was then only eighteen, and a student
in Trinity College, Dublin. There he did not, however, long pursue
his course, and before he came of age he married, his wife being
Isabella, daughter of Sir Henry King, and sister of the first Earl
of Kingston, of the King creation. The interest which his father
had displayed in public affairs secured for him a prominent place
in the political world, and his own abilities enabled him to take
such advantage of it as to entitle him in his thirty-eighth year to
the highest honours the Government could confer. On the death
of the Chancellor of Ireland at that time he was appointed by a
King's letter, dated July 28, 1767, a Commissioner of the Great
Seal, together with the Archbishop of Dublin and the Bishop of
Cloyne ; and by another King's letter, dated August 7 following,
he was created Viscount St. Lawrence and Earl of Howth. It

142 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

was thought desirable a few months later to bind him still
further to the Government by giving him a seat in the privy
council ; and the Lord Lieutenant represented that not only
would it oblige Lord Howth and the Beresfords, with whom as
his mother's connexions he was politically allied, but also that it
would be generally acceptable and excite no jealousy, owing to
the position which Lord Howth occupied.'

The sporting instinct, which he inherited, was exhibited by
him in early life in driving a coach. According to John O'Keeffe,
the actor, he was one of the first amateur whips, and used to array
himself in the garb of a coachman, " a wig with a number of
little curls, and a three-cornered hat with great spouts," and to
carry in his mouth, when on the box, " a bit of straw about two
inches long."- In a letter, which is preserved in Howth Castle,
there is also evidence of his seeking diversion in driving at a
later time. The letter was written by him from Holyhead when
he was on his way to Bath, and concerns a certain chaise, which
was to be sent after him as soon as possible by a ship plying
between Dublin and Bristol.

At Bath, towards the close of his life, he resided almost con-
stantly. At his house in the Grove, on September 21, 1794, his wife
died,' and there, in the following year, he made his will, which
bears date July 11, 1795.^ Howth was, however, not forgotten
by him. In addition to a direction that he was to be interred in
the vault of his family, he makes provision for the poor of Howth,
and leaves a piece of plate to his former agent, liobert Hutchinson,
as a token of Hutchinson's services to him and his family, and
of his own esteem and regard for him. His death took place on
September 29, 1801, at Cheltenham.*

He had three sons : William, who succeeded him ; Thomas, who
took holy orders, and became Bishop of Cork ; and Henry, who
was in the army ; and three daughters : Isabella, who married,

1 Home Office Papers, 1766-69, pp. 226, 279, 280, 281.

2 " O'Keeffe's Eecollections," i, 69.

2 "Gentleman's Magazine" for 1794, p. 969.

* In the Prerogative Collection.

5 "Gentleman's Magazine" for 1801, p. 963.

m
>

r
o

r
r

r
o

IN THE TIME OF SWIFT AND GKATTAN. 143

in 1773, Dudley Cosby, Lord Sydney of Leix; Elizabeth, who
married, in 1786, Lieutenant-Greueral Pauliis Emilius ]rving;
and Frances, who married, in 1808, the Venerable James Phillott,
Archdeacon of Bath. With Howth Castle the names of Bishop
St. Lawrence and Lady Sydney are much associated, the Bishop's
name by a ghost-story, and Lady Sydney's name, which has
been given to a room and a garden, by a long residence during her
widowheod, which commenced within a month of her marriage.

The ghost-story with which Bishop St. Lawrence's name is
connected, and which is said to have been told by himself, arose
from a tradition that a daughter of the house of O'Byrne bad cause
for dissatisfaction with one of the Bishop's ancestors, and was
accustomed to visit the Castle in the form of a mermaid. According
to the story, the Bishop arrived one day unexpectedly at the
Castle, and, finding everyone away, amused himself reading an old
book, entitled " Stories of the Ancient Families of his Majesty's
Kingdom of Ireland." In one of its chapters, headed " how the
mermaid came to be one of the supporters of the Lords of Howth,"
the history of Dame Geraldine O'Byrne was set forth, and with
his head full of her and her melancholy end, the Bishop retired to
rest. His room lay in what was then known as the Mermaid's
Tower, and, needless to say, the Bishop was before long startled
from his slumbers. The cause was a damp, cold pressure on his
face, such as a mermaid might be expected to impose, and the
Bishop apprehended an amphibious rather than an episcopal close
to his career. But at last a light was struck, and whafe was
supposed to be a mermaid's fin proved to be a coachman's glove
that had fallen out of a watch-pocket fastened to the bed.'

Like most tales of the kind, the Bishop's ghost-story is
embellished with precise details that are inconsistent with fact,
and this fate also attends the tale of " the rat that followed
Lord Howth." According to this tale, a certain Lord Howth
was out shooting on his peninsula near the cromlech when a rat of
an old Irish breed, grey in colour, ran out, and was about to be

' See the '• Mermaid of Howth Castle," contributed from a note by D. 0. Maddyn,
in the "Nation," December 3, 1842.

144

HOWTH AND ITS OWXEES.

killed by the gamekeeper. Lord Howth ordered that it should
not be destroyed, and in the evening he found that it had followed
him into the Castle. It became his constant companion, and wa&
decorated by him with a gold ring which he placed on its right
foreleg. People laughed about his strange pet, and to escape their
ridicule Lord Howth went to the Continent. There he met a
charming lady, who agreed to marry him on condition that he
would not attempt to examine a gold bracelet that she wore on
her right arm. But after some years curiosity overcame him, and
one night when his wife was asleep he raised her arm and tried ta
open the bracelet. As he did so she awoke, and with a loud cry
fell back dead, and at the same moment a rat with a gold ring on
its right foreleg ran away from beneath the bed.^

1 See for other versions "Table Talk of Samuel Rogers," ed. 1857, p. 167;
"Dublin Saturday Magazine," vol. i, pt. ii, p. 230: and "Tales Round a
Winter Hearth," by Jane and Anna Maria Porter, i, 69.

Fkeedom-}50x presented to First Earl of Hoavth.

( 145 )

CHAPTER IX.

AS A PACKET STATION AND AFTER.

At the opening of the nineteenth century the provision of shelter
for ships on the Dublin coast was urged on the twofold ground of
the loss of shipping from the want of a refuge harbour near the
port of Dublin, and of the necessity of obtaining a better station
for the packet-boats. During the previous century immense
sums had been expended on improving the port of Dublin
by the construction of the north and south walls, but notwith-
standing, until steam became available, ships were unable in bad
weather to enter the LiiTey. As there was no other place of
refuge nearer than Waterford to the south and Carlingford Lough
to the north, they were often forced to remain in the open Bay of
Dublin, and as many as twenty are said to have been annually
lost or seriously injured while lying there. But the question of
a new station for the packet-boats even more concerned the
citizens of Dublin. At the Pigeon House, which was then the
station, the packet-boats had to wait on both wind and tide, and
much uncertainty as to the time of departure was added to the
length of a passage which averaged at that time eighteen hours.

A number of persons who possessed or assumed knowledge of
the subject were seized by a pamphletary fever, and projects for
harbours and canals, which were expected at that period to
revolutionize the world, were poured forth. The chief pamph-
leteers were the superintendent of the Howth lighthouse, Mr.
Thomas Kogers, and a clergyman, the Honourable and Reverend
William Dawson, a son of the first Viscount Portarlington.
Rogers was moved to write by the loss of ships ; Dawson by the
inconvenience of the existing packet-station. By both Howth
was selected as the best site, but theii' plans were influenced by
their respective objects, and were widely different.

The campaign was opened by Rogers in the year 1800, with a

146 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

pamplilet,' in which he proposed the construction of a harbour on
the northern side of Howth, with a canal capable of carrying ships
thence to the Liffey. The harbour, which was to be entered from
the sea near its eastern point, and to be seven hundred feet wide
was to extend from the town of Howth to the isthmus, a distance
of three thousand feet, and the canal, which was to start from the
western end of the harbour, was to be cut through tlie isthmus
and to follow a line along the Clontarf shore, and through the part
of Dublin called the North Lotts, to the Liffey. In his enthusiasm
for his project Rogers could not see even the possibility of a
difficulty. The cost, which on his own estimate would have been
over four hundred thousand pounds, was treated as a bagatelle,
and a suggestion that the harbour might fill with sand, which
experience proved only too soon to be true, was brushed
aside as a trivial matter that slight dredging would remedy.
At the same time he criticized a scheme for a harbour at
Dalkey, and scouted it on account of the want of connexion with
the Liffey, which the canal from Howth was to supply. Before
the end of that year Rogers saw reason, however, to revise his
project, and issued another pamphlet,- in which he proposed the
enclosure of the entire space between the peninsula and Ireland's
Eye. Ii. this pamphlet he laboured to prove that the sand came
from the land and not from the sea, and sought the approval of
the naval authorities, by holding out as a bait the suitable site
Ireland's Eye afforded for docks in which men-of-war could be
repaired.

Dawson followed soon with the ery^: "The mail from I>ondon
in Dublin, and the mail from Dublin in London, in the shortest
possible time!" Opening witli a reference to the Dalkey scheme.

'"Remarks on a Road or Safe Anchorage between Ireland's Eye and Howth,
with a plan for a Harbour and a Canal from thence to Dublin for large ships, also a
short description of Dalkey Sound," by Thomas Rogers. Dubl., 1800. (Haliday
Pamphlets, 792.)

2 " Observations on a Road or Safe Anchorage at Ireland's Eye, and a Proposed
Plan for Docks to repair Ships of "War," by Thomas Rogers. Dubl., ISOO. (Haliday
Pamphlets, 793.)

^ This proposal is incorporated in a pamphlet published subsequently, infra,
p. 147, n. 2.

X
O

AS A PACKET STATION AND AFTEK. 147

which he rejected on the ground of Dalkey being farther from
Holyhead than other places, and of its sound being dangerous, he
advocated a harbour at Howth to the east of the town, with a
very short pier, from which vessels might start with the utmost
ease. He represented that by such an arrangement the packet-
boats, which he estimated would cross the Channel in six hours,
would suffer no delay from " tide, bar, rock, or sand-bank," and
would be able to put to sea even when the wind was most con-
trary. As additional inducements for the adoption of his scheme,
he threw out the prospect of the harbour being effectively guarded
against all foes at a small cost, and of a glut of fish in the Dublin
market when the fishermen of Howth had the benefit of such
protection for their boats as his pier would give.

A few years later, in 1805, the Government began to move,
and both Eogers and Dawson started afresh the advocacy of their
respective projects, and printed new editions of their pamphlets,
with copious additions. Taking a hint from Dawson, Rogers
dwelt now on the admirable situation of Howth from the military
point of view, and expressed the opinion that the peninsula could
be made as impregnable as Gibraltar.^ On the other hand,
Dawson borrowed from Rogers, and tried to convince his readers
that his pier would provide a place of refuge. His proposals
extended beyond Howth, but, so far as that place was concerned,
they were summed up as a harbour with a battery on its western
side, some signal-stations on the hills, and a fort on thfe isthmus,
across which a fosse was to be made.-

So early as the year 1800 the Government had received from
a distinguished engineer. Sir Thomas Hyde Page, R.R.S., whom
they had employed to make inquiries, a report in which he fore-
shadowed two harbours, one at Dalkey and another at Howth.*

1 " Observations on the Reports laid before tlie Directors General of Inland Navi-
gation in Ireland for the Improvement of Dublin Harbour," by Thomas Rogers.
Dubl., 1805. (Haliday Pamphlets, 878.)

- "Plan for a Complete Harbour at Howth-Town for the use of his Majesty's Mail
Packet-boats, Merchants' Ships in Case of Storm, and Fishing Vessels to supply
Dublin Market," by the Hon. and Rev. William Dawson, Dubl., 1805. (Haliday
Pamphlets, 878.)

^ " Reports relative to Dublin Harbour and Adjacent Coast, made in consequence
of orders from the Marquess of Cornwallis, Lord Lieutenant of Ireland, in the year

148 HOWTH AND ITS OWNEES.

The one at Dalkey, which was to be a refuge harbour, was esti-
mated by him as likely to cost about two hundred and fifty
thousand pounds. But in addition he contemplated a canal
along the southern shore of Dublin Bay, from Sandycove to the
Lifiey, for which a million pounds would be required. Such sums
might well cause any government to pause; and when action was
taken, the main consideration was to keep the expenditure within
reasonable limits. A harbour at Howth sufficient for the packet-
boats was alone proposed, and the first vote towards its cost was
a modest one of ten thousand pounds.

Work was commenced in the autumn of 1807 near the town
of Howth, but no final decision seems to have been then arrived
at as to the best design, and in consequence of the uncertainty
Eogers and Dawson renewed their efforts. Eogers had obtained
the support of a naval officer, Vice- Admiral George Bowen,^ and
through Bowen's influence he had gained the ear of the Govern-
ment, who thought that various experiments as to the tides
made by Bogers were of value. In a letter, dated March 6, 1808,
the Duke of Wellington, who was then Sir Arthur Wellesley, and
the Chief Secretary for Ireland, wrote to Bo wen- that he had no
doubt the public would derive advantage from Rogers's exertions,
and Bowen's interest in them, as soon as tlie Government's
immediate object, a harbour for packet-boats, was attained, and
that he would himself lend his aid in accomplishing anything that
had in view the defence and security of Ireland and the con-
venience and safety of the navigation of the channel. At the
moment, however, he was afraid that Eogers's plans involved an
expense that could not be entertained, and would divert public
attention from what was most important, a secure, easy, and
quiet communication with Great Britain.

In the following year, 1809, Dawson put forth yet another
pamphlet,' in which he recapitulated his proposals, and com-

1800," by Sir Thomas Hyde Page, Knt., F.R.S. Dubl., 1801. (Ilaliday
Pamphlets, 813.)

' See manuscript notes dated Marcli 19, 1808, appended to copy of Eogers's
pamphlet in Ilaliday Pamphlets, supra, p. 147, n. 1.

- This letter is preserved in the Royal Irish Academy.

2 "Plan for Three Ilarbours, one easterly from Ilowth-town, one due east from-

AS A PACKET STATION AND AFTER. 149

mented severely upon the operations which the Government were
then carrying on at Howth. He called the work a mockery of
harbour-making, and, with a prescience that is not a little remark-
able, he foretold that the harbour would be a sand-trap. The
Government, he said, were trying to accomplish the impossible
in making a harbour by excavation, and, notwithstanding the
employment of many men and much gunpowder for eighteen
months, the progress was imperceptible. John Rennie, to whom
the entire responsibility for the harbour has been attributed, had,
it appears, not been given a free choice of site, and had expressed
a doubt as to the success of a harbour in the one selected. But
Dawson remarked that it did not require a gentleman from
England to inform him that a quarry which could not be
^excavated, and a sand-pit which could not be dug, would not
make a satisfactory harbour, and. advised, in conclusion, the
-employment of a resident engineer, even if his pretensions were
far less than those of Rennie.

But Dawson's warnings were unheeded, and the Government
persisted in their operations. The result was so signal a failure
that almost immediately the supersedure of the harbour was
■determined, and the construction of Kingstown Harbour under-
taken. About three hundred and Kfty thousand pounds had been
spent. The area enclosed comprises fifty-two acres. The western
pier measures in length two thousand seven hundred feet, and
the eastern, on which there is a lighthouse, two thousand two
hundred and eighty. The entrance is three hundred feet wide.
The stone used in the piers was mainly quarried on the peninsula,
hut for the foundations, stone was brought from Runcorn, and
for facing the sides from the southern side of Dublin county.'

Not many years after steam-boats became available, on a
Tjright Sunday afternoon, August 12, 1821, George the Fourth
■entered Howth Harbour on the "Lightning" Steam- Packet, com-
manded by Captain Skinner. He was seated on deck, on a sofa,

the island at Holyhead, and one about three hundred yards easterly of Dunleary Dry
Pier; subjoined are Remarks on the Work, said to be for a harbour at the northern
side of the ruined abbey at Howth-town, and Reasons against the Continuation of it
any longer," by the Hon. and Rev. W. Dawson, A.M. Dubl., 1809.
1 Warburton, Whitelaw, and Walsh's " Hist, of Dublin," ii, 1261.

150 HOWTH AND ITS 0WNEE8.

in a dark frock-coat and travelling-cap,^ and, according to one of the-
reports, he was received with " rapturous demonstrations of duty,
affection, and gratitude" from the pier, to which he responded by
waving his cap over his head and returning the cheers. A carriage
was in waiting at the head of the pier, but great difficulty was
found in clearing a passage to it. In the confusion his Majesty
shook hands with persons wholly strangers to him, as well as with
those whom he knew, and finally drove off", as the report states,
in an exhausted condition, exclaiming, " I thank you from my
heart ; God bless you all, God bless you all."^

The citizens of Dublin were attracted to Howth in the first
decades of the nineteenth century by the harbour works, which
far exceeded in magnitude anything previously undertaken in
Ireland,' and an Englishman, who visited Howth in 1813, saw
them dinincr in great numbers on the grass, or, as it was then
termed, "the sod."^ But, in 1838, John D'Alton writes* of
those excursions as a thing of the past, and attributes their
cessation to the introduction of turnpikes. Visitors began to stay
later on at Howth in greater numbers, and for their accommoda-
tion the Eoyal Hotel, and subsequently the St. Lawrence Hotel,
were built. A tavern near the Baily Lighthouse was frequented
by a social circle called the Mystics, and a race-course, which was
laid out round Corr Castle, brought the votaries of the turf to the
peninsula." In the early part of the century Ireland's Eye was
used by Lord Howth as a breeding-ground for foxes, and was
e\4dently a place little regarded.''

During the construction of the harbour a faction-fight took
place amongst the labourers. It assumed a dangerous aspect, and

J His dress was described as a blue surtout coat and blue pantaloons, with a black
handkerchief and a blue cloth-cap with a gold band. (" Dublin Evening Post,"
Aug. 14, 1821.)

2 "Freeman's Journal," Aug. 13, 1821, and " Dublin Evening Post," Aug. 14,
1821.

3 Warburton, Whitelaw, and Walsh's " Hist, of Dublin," ii, 1264.

« " A Tour in Ireland by an Englishman [John Gough] in 1813-14," p. 179.
5 «' Hist, of County Dublin," p. 123.
« "A Day at Howth," by J. Huband Smith, pp. 17, 30.

' " Ireland's Eye," by R. A., in the " Dublin Penny Journal," ii, 60. For the
ecclesiastical history of Howth at that period see Appendixes M and N.

AS A PACKET STATION AND AFTEK. 151

was not quelled without the aid of a detachment of soldiers.'
Owing to the influx of sand, John D'Alton records^ that, in
1838, the harbour was only able to shelter four wherries and five
smacks, and says that no boat-builder or rope-maker, or even
carpenter or blacksmith, was to be found near the port. But
there is reason to believe that he took too unfavourable a view
of the situation, and soon afterwards the harbour attracted in
summer fishing-boats from other places, and herrings to the value
of over thirty thousand pounds were sent off in one summer to
England.^

Two tragedies mark the century. The first was the loss of
the " Victoria," a steam-boat belonging to the City of Dublin
Steam-Packet Company, which went on the rocks near the Naze
of Howth during a snow-storm of exceptional severity, on
February 15, 1853, carrying to their doom many passengers,*
and the second was a murder on Ireland's Eye, which attracted
wide attention, and was the subject of a learned scientific paper.^

But the most striking outcome of the last hundred years has
been the great increase in the population, and the extensive build-
ing by which it has been accompanied. During the first half of
the nineteenth century the Castle was modernized, a large addition
made to its south-eastern wing, and a new entrance constructed
from the main road. These improvements gave an impetus to
building on the peninsula. Sutton House was rebuilt, and came
into notice as the residence of Mr. Justice Jackson,® and afterwards
of the Eev. William Lawrenson, then rector of Howth, and sub-
sequently passed into the possession of Mr. Andrew Jameson,
who has built a modern house near its site. It is impossible to
enumerate alj the houses that have been since erected, but amongst
them there may be mentioned Carrig Breac, long the home of the
illustrious physician, William Stokes, and his gifted daughter

1 " Gentleman's Magazine " for 1811, pt; i, p. 82.

- "Hist, of County Dublin," p. 125.

^ "Dublin Saturday Magazine," vol. i, pt. ii, p. 230.

* " Dublin Evening Mail," February 16, 1853.

s"The True Height of the Tide at Ireland's Eye on the evening of the
6th September, 1852, the day of the murder of Mrs. Kirwan," by the Rev. Samuel
Haughton, "Proc. Eoyal Irish Academy," vii, 511.

^ The Hon. Joseph Devonsher Jackson, a Justice of the Common Pleas, 1846-58.

152 HOWTH AND ITS OWNEKS.

Margaret ; Drumleck, formerly the residence of Mr. William
McDougall, by whom it was built ; Earlsclift'e, now owned by the
Provost of Trinity College ;' Kilrock, formerly the residence of
Lord Justice FitzGibbon f and St. Fintan's, the property of the
Hawkins family.

William, who succeeded, on his father's death in 1801, as the
second Earl of Howth, was then nearly fifty years of age. He
was twice married. His first wife, whom he married in 1777,
was Mary, daughter of Thomas, fifteenth Baron of Athenry and
first Earl of Louth, who died in I7i:'3; and his second wife was
Margaret, daughter of William Burke, of Keelogues, in the
county of Galway, who survived him. By his first wife he had
four daughters: Harriet, who married, in 1801, Arthur French
St. George ; Isabella, who married, in 1803, William, third Earl
of Annesley ; Matilda, who married Major William Burke, of
Queensborough ; and Mary, who married Clifford Trotter. By
his second wife he had Thomas, who succeeded him, and two
daughters : Catherine, who married, in 1828, Viscount Dungarvan;
and Elizabeth, who married, in 18.31, Sir Edward Eichard Borough.
The second Earl of Howth died on April 4, 1822, and some clue
to his character may be found in his will, made a month before, on
March 12,' in which he enjoins that his body should be interred
privately. He was, however, not forgetful of public duties, and
is mentioned as foremost in terminating the faction-fight, and in
greeting George the Fourth on his arrival.

Thomas, who succeeded as third Earl of Howth, and who at
the time of his father's death had not attained his majority,
occupied for a great portion of the nineteenth century a position
of the utmost distinction and prominence in Ireland. When little
more than thirty years of age, in 1835, he was installed as a
Knight of St. Patrick, and for nearly a quarter of a century, from
1851 to his death, he filled the oftice of Lord Lieutenant and Gustos
Itotulorum of the County of Dublin, honours to which that of
Vice- Admiral of Leinster was added.

1 The Rev. John Pentland Mahaffy, C.V.O.

' The Right Hon. Gerald FitzGibbon, Lord Justice of Appeal, 1878-1909.

^ In the Prerogative Collection.

THE THIRD KARL IX TIIK HUXTIX'G - FIELD

PEEP OIJAV BUY

AS A PACKET STATION AND AFTER. 153

But it is as a sportsman that the third Earl of Howth enjoyed
most celebrity. His death was said to have left a gap that would
never be filled, and to have revived recollections of glorious
days in the history of the Irish turf. His love of horses was life-
long, and in his early years he was recognized as one of the best
and most determined riders in the United Kingdom. A German
prince, who visited Howth in 1829, found the castle stables and
^kennels full of noble hunters and notable hounds, and relates how
he followed Lord Howth throughout a stag-hunt, of which not
many saw the end.' Pavo in the " Morning Post " applauded Lord
Howth for the example which he set on the turf, and said that
•a better judge of a horse or of racing never breathed. He pictured
him as a fine horseman, with a powerful, although light, figure.
In England, as well as in Ireland, Lord Howth's colours, white
body with black sleeves and cap, were often successful. In
1842 he carried off, with St. Lawrence, the Stand Cup at Liver-
pool, and in 1848, with Peep-o'-Day Boy, the Chester Cup. The
Warwickshire Hunt Stakes fell to him with Cromaboo, and the
March Stakes at Goodwood with Beatrice and Wolf-dog, while
from Eoinnualla he bred Kingstown, Mince-pie, and Ackvjorth, which
gained for other owners classic honours. In Ireland, at the
opening meeting of Baldoyle Race-Course, which he established,
he won the first race with Lanibay, and carried off also the stakes
in three other races.^

The third Earl of Howth was twice married. His first wife,
whom he married in 1826, was Lady Emily de Burgh, daughter of
John Thomas, thirteenth Earl of Clanricarde, who died in 1842,
and his second wife, whom he married in 1851, was Henrietta
Digby, only child of Peter Barfoot, of Landenstown, who survived
him. By his first wdfe he had "William Ulick Tristram, his suc-
cessor, and four daughters, Emily, who married, in 1859, Thomas
Gaisford, of Offington ; Catherine Elizabeth, who married, in 1850,
James Joseph Wheble, of Bulniershe Court ; Mary, w ho died

1 " Tour in England, Ireland, and France in the years 1828 and 1829," by a
■German Prince. Lond., IS32, ii, 97, 144.

2 "Morning Post," February 9, 1874; "Sport," May 25, 1912. The name
J'oinnualla was, no doubt, intended to be Fionnualla.

154 HOWTH AND ITS OWNEES.

unmarried ; and Margaret, who married, in 1861, Sir Charles-
Compton Domvile, the second baronet of liis line. By his second
wife the third Earl of Howth had Thomas Kenelm Bigby, an
officer in the Fifth Dragoon Guards, who died in 1891, and two
daughters, Henrietta Eliza, who married, in 1881, Captain
Benjamin Lee Guinness ; and Geraldine Digby. After a long
illness the third Earl of Howth died at Mentone, on February 6,
1874, and his body was interred on the 17th, in the tomb of his
ancestors, amid a remarkable demonstration of respect.

William Ulick Tristram, the fourth Earl of Howth, wha
succeeded his father when nearly fifty years of age, was the
recipient of many honours, including the Order of St. Patrick, ;v
barony of the United Kingdom, and the Vice-Admiralty of
Leinster. In early life he had been an officer in the Seventh
Hussars, and for many years he was Lieutenant-Colonel of the
County Dublin ]Militia. From 1868 to 1874 he represented
Galway in the House of Commons. On the turf, more par-
ticularly at Punchestown, he was a familiar figure, and was well
known in English and Iiish hunting circles. From 1856 to 1861
he was master of the Kilkenny Hunt, and subsequently he was
master of the hounds at Pau. He died on March 9, 1909, at
Bournemouth, and was buried at Howth in the tomb of his
ancestors.

The fourth Earl of Howth had never married, and on his death
the barony and earldom of Howth lapsed. The estates passed by
his will to his nephew Julian Gaisford of Oftington, who assumed
by royal licence the arms and name of St. Lawrence.

( 155 ;

APPENDIX A.

CONFIRMATION OF circa 1188.

The following exemplification of the confirmation of circa 1188 is
deposited in the National Museum : —

Henricus Octauus dei gratia Anglie et Francie Eex fidei defensor
et Dominus Hibernie Omnibus ad quos presentes litere peruenerint
salutem Inspeximus Irrotulamentum cuiusdam Carte Coram Baroni-
bus de Scaccario nostro hibernie apud Dublin termino Michaelis
Anno regni nostri vicesimo primo in hec verba Memorandum quod
Cristoforus de Sancto laurencio Miles Dominus de houth venit hie
coram Baronibus huius Scaccarii octauo die Nouembris hoc termino
et exhibuit Curie hie hanc Cartam et petiit illam irrotulari quam
quidem Cartam prefati Barones irrotulari preceperunt in hec verba
Sciant presentes et futuri quod ego Nicholaus Sancti laurencii dedi
et concessi et hac presenti Carta mea confirmaui Almarico Sancti
laurencii tilio meo totam terram meani de houth cum omnibus perti-
nenciis suis sicut ego vnquam melius tenui et totum meum conques-
tum de hibernia tenendum el habendum in feodo et in hereditate sibi
et suis heredibus libere et quiete in ecclesiis in molendinis in stangnis
in aquis in pascuis in pratis in viis et semitis in Nemore et in omnibus
que ad me pertinent saluo seruicio Johannis Comitis Domini hibernie
Hiis testibus J. Dubliuensi Archiepiscopo Johanne de Courcy hugone
Tyrrell Roberto Tyrrell filio suo Ricardo Tyrrell Willelmo paruo
Galfrido de Constantyn Adam de herford Ricardo de herford Galfrido
de Nugent Adam de Pheypowe Ricardo Talbot Roberto de Nugent
Andredo de Courtyn Roberto de excestria Galfrido de vincestria
Willelmo vincestria Radulpho Whitrell Nicholao de Castello Roberto
de Cornwallishe et multis aliis Nos autem tenorem et efl'ectum dicte
Carte Irrotulamenti ad requisicionem dicti Cristofori de Sancto
laurencio duximus exemplificandum In cuius rei testimonium has
literas nostras fieri fecimus patentes Teste dilecto et fideli nostro
Patricio flynglas Capitali Barone Scaccarii nostri predicti vicesimo
quinto die Nouembris Anno Regni nostri vicesimo primo.

156 HOWTH AXD ITS OWNERS.

AITKNDIX B.

CONFIRMATION OF circa 1190.
The following exemplification of the confirmation of circa 1190 is
deposited in the National Museum : —

Henricus Octauus dei gratia Anglie et Francie Kex fidei defensor
et Dominus Hibernie Omnibus ad quos presentes litere peruenerint
salutem Inspeximus Irrotulamentum cuiusdam Carte coram Baroni-
bus de Scaccario nostro hibernie apud Dublin termino Micliaelis
Anno regni nostri vicesimo primo in hec verba Memorandum quod
Cristoforus de Sancto laurencio Miles Dominus de houth venit hie
coram Baronibus huius Scaccarii octauo die Nouembris hoc termino
et exhibuit Curie hie banc cartam et petiit illam Irrotulari quam
quidem cartam prefati Barones irrotulari preceperunt in hec verba
Johannes Dominus hibernie et Comes Morton Archiepiscopis Epis-
copis Abbatibus Comitibus Baronibus Justiciariis Constabulariis et
omnibus Balliuis et Muiistris suis Francis et Anglis et Hibernieusibus
salutem Sciatis me dedisse et concessisse et hac presenti carta mea
confirmasse Almarico de Sancto laurencio pro homagio et seruicio suo
terram de houth cum omnibus suis pertinenciis Ita libere et quiete
sicut pater suus illam unquam melius tenuit et per seruicium vnius
militis pro omni seruicio quare volo et firmiter precipio quod pre-
dictus Almaricus ot herodes sui post eum habeant et teneant de me et
heredibus meis predictam terram per idem seruicium libere et quiete
integre et plenarie in bosco et in piano in viis et semitis in pratis et
pascuis in moris et mariscis in vreccis maris et molendinis in stangnis
it viuariis in ecclesiis et capeUis et in omnibus aliis libertatibus et
liberis consuetudinibus suis Teste Johanne de Courcy Galfrido de
Constantyn Gilberto de Venistria Ricardo de herfordio liugone Tyrrell
Rogero filio suo Radulpho de Wae Adam Grosso hugone hussey
Adam Camerario Simone Genyfeld Mauricio filio Willelmi Rogero de
Sampford Albricio de Courcy et multis aliis apud Sanctum Edmundum
Nos autem tenorem et effectum dicte Carte Irrotulamenti ad requisi-
cionem dicti Cristofori de Sancto laurencio duximus exemphficandum
In cuius rei testimonium has literas nostras fieri fecimus patentes
Teste dilecto et fideli nostro Patricio fiynglas Capitali Barone
Scaccarii nostri predicti apud Dublin vicesimo quinto die Nouembris
Anno Regni nostri vicesimo primo.

This exemplification is reproduced amongst ancient deeds
by the Record Commissioners of Ireland, vol. i, plate iii ; it is
also calendared in the Calendar of Irish Patent Rolls, p. 2 ;
and it is translated in Lynch's " Legal Institutions," p. 148.

APPENDIX. 15T

APPENDIX C.
CADETS OF THE HOUSE OF HOWTH, 1200-1400.

During the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, in connexion with
the city and county of Dublin, the following cadets are found : — In
1255, Thomas, who was granted by Walter de Suell, vicar of Howth,
a holding in Oxmantown ; in 1275, Philip, son of Richard, who

owned property in Howth ; in 1284, J , who held a tenement

in Bray ; in 1286, William, who disobeyed a summons ; in 1290,
Thomas, who owned property in the parish of St. Nicholas ; in 1292,
Robert, who harboured an Irishman, and valued sheep belonging to
the Templars at Clontarf; in 1293, Richard, who owned land at
Swords, and accounted for the revenues of the see of Dublin ; in 1306,
Roger, who served as a juror in a trial for robbery at Malahide, and
Walter, who in a similar capacity, on a trial for highway robbery,
sought to have the prisoner excused on the ground that he was drunk ;
and in 1392, John, son of John who dealt with land at Howth, and
acted as a royal commissioner (Christ Church Deeds ; Sweetman's
Calendar ; Chartulary of St. Mary's Abbey ; Justiciary Rolls ; Liber
Niger ; Graves's " King's Council in Ireland " ; and Patent Rolls,.
Ireland).

In connexion with the county of Louth, and generally described
as of Howthstown, the following cadets appear : — In 1299, Simon,
who was plaintiff in a suit tried at Drogheda ; in 1306, William,
Roger, and Hugh, who were accused of taking part in faction-fights,
and Richard, who lost by theft a surcoat and three hides ; in 1325,
Richard, who was allied to the Verdons, then in conflict with the
Crown ; ni 1372, Peter, who was a cleric ; in 1380, Peter, who
married a daughter of the Verdon house ; and in 1384, Richard of
Howthstown, Richard of Henrystown, and Robert of Cronstown.
(Justiciary Rolls ; Plea Rolls ; Close Rolls ; Lodge's "Peerage").

158 HOAVTH AXD ITS OWXEES.

APPENDIX D.

RECTORS AND PREBENDARIES OF HOWTH, 1200-1400.

Circa 1200. Hernesius (Chartulary of St. Mary's Abbey, i, 173).
Circa 1235. Gentilius (see the early deed).

[Vicar : Walter de Suell.]
Circa 1269. John de Saunford (Sweetman's Calendar, 1252-84,
no. 1173).
Afterwards Archbishop of Dublin.
1275. John dc St. Omer {ihid.).

1295. Walter de Langtou (Dr. Lawior).

At the same time he held preferments in the dioceses
of Winchester, Carlisle, Durham, York, Lichfield,
and London (Papal Letters).
Circa 1320. John de Lascapon (Cal, Pat. Rolls, 1324-27, p. 89).

Sometimes Archdeacon of Nantes, and Papal agent
to England and Ireland (Papal Letters).
[Vicar : William Young.]
1330. Adam de Hervyngton (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1327-30, p. 489).

1346. John de Burnham, B.C.L. {ihid., 1345-48, p. 150).

Sometime Treasurer and Chief Baron of the Ex-
chequer in Ireland (Cal. Pat. Rolls ; Papal Letters).
Circa 1365. Henry de Wakefield (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1367-70, p. 467).
Afterwards Bishop of Worcester.
1370. William de Beverley {ibid.).

Sometime Archdeacon of Northumberland and Canon
of St. Stephen's, Westminster. In 1383, 1388,
and 1389 he appointed Nicholas, Lord of Howth,
his attorney in Ireland {ibid.).
1390. Walter Brugge {ihid., 1388-92, p. 301).

Sometime Archdeacon of Meath and a Prebendary of
Y^ork. In 1391 he was granted a licence to bring
victuals, horses, goshawks, and falcons to England
{ibid.).

1396. John Melton {ibid., 1396-99, p. 53).

1397. John Taaffe, B.C.L. nbid., pp. 57, 337; 1399-1401,

p. 364).
Described as of noble birth, and holding preferment
in the diocese of Meath (Papal Letters).

APPENDIX. 159

During the fourteenth century the following persons
were nominated to the prehend of Howth by the
Pope : — In 1329, William de Lascapon ; in 1313,
Stephen Lawless, afterwards Bishop of Limerick ;
in 1854, William de Kellesey and Richard Drax ;
in 1358, John de Lindelay ; in 13G0, Walter
Moryn ; in 1361, Thomas Gryk ; in 13G1, Adam
Bobelyn; in 1396, John Taaffe ; in 1397, Richard
Young ; and in 1398, John Prene, afterwards Dean
of St. Patrick's Cathedral (Papal Letters and
Register).

APPENDIX E.

RECTORS AND PREBENDARIES OF HOWTH, 1100-1600.

1400. John Eston (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1399-1401, p. 369).

Sometime a canon of Windsor (Le Neve's Fasti).
1409. Richard Prentys (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1408-13, p. 112).

Sometime a dignitary in England, hut as there
appears to have been a second ecclesiastic of the
same name, his preferments cannot be defined
(Le Neve's Fasti ; Papal Letters).
1412. Robert Sutton (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1408-13, p. 452).

Sometime rector of Drogheda, Wexford, and Slane,
a canon of Ossory and Cashel, and Archdeacon of
Kells (Papal Letters).
1444. Richard Chester (Cal. Pat. Rolls, 1441-46, p. 314).

Sometime a prebendary of London, Hereford, &c.
(Le. Neve's Fasti; Papal Letters).
Circa 1458. Lionel St. Lawrence (supra, p. 52).

1464. John Alleyn (Dr. Berry's Irish Statutes, Edw. IV,

p. 373).
Afterwards Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Circa 1470. William Tregury (Jour. Roy. Soc. Ant., Irel., vol. xxvi,
p. 17, n. 4).
In 1470, during the hearing of a suit taken by him
against one John Laralton for debt, he called the
jury false and forsworn scoundrels, a contempt of
court for which he was fined forty shillings (ibid.).
1479. John Plant (Dr. Lawlor).

Circa 1490. John FitzLyons (Irish Statutes, 1 Ric. III-8 Hen. VII).

160 HOWTH AND ITS OWNEKS.

15U9. John FitzSimon (Cotton's Fasti).

1522. Thomas Darcy (ibid.).

Afterwards Dean of St. Patrick's Cathedral.
1530. William Power {ibid.).

Sometime Archdeacon of Dublin and of Glendalough,
[Vicar : Nicholas Carney, M.A,]
1537. Simon Geffrey (Letters and Papers, Hen. VIII, vol. xii,

nos. 477, 1810).
1547. Prebend leased by the Crown to Sir Thomas Cusack

and Edward, Lord Howth, who was to provide a.
chaplain for Howth church (Fiants, Edw. VI, nos.
36, 86).

[Chaplain : 1549, John Joy. Morrin's Pat. Piolls, i,.

193.]
1555. John Dongan (Cotton's Fasti).

1595. Kobert Conway, LL.D. (ibid.).

APPENDIX F.
CADETS OF THE HOUSE OF HOWTH, 1400-1600.

Amongst the cadets mentioned in the fifteenth and sixteenth
centuries in various parts of the country we find the following : — In
1403, Thomas, who was appointed to summon the magnates of Dublin
county ; in 1414, Adam, who is described as of Wicklow ; in 1452,
Thomas, who was a trustee for Athboy; about 1500, Lionel, who was
in the service of the Earl of Kildare ; in 1504, Edward, who was
rector of Swords ; in 1587, Ralph, who was a student of Lincoln's
Inn; in 1547, Christopher, who was a cleric in Dublin; in 1556,
Nicholas, who resided at Garristown ; and in 1562, Robert, who
resided at Maynooth (D'Alton's Hist, of Co. Dublin; Exchequer
Records ; Pat. Rolls, Irel. ; Morrin's Pat. Rolls ; Book of Howth ;
Lincoln's Inn Admissions ; Chancery Decrees).

As connected with the Louth branch we find the following : — In
1401, John, who is described as of Howthstown ; in 1403, Henry,
who was Prior of the House of St. Leonard, in Dundalk; about 1480,
Christopher Howth, and his father Jenkins Howth; and in 1541,
Anthony, who was concerned in Dundalk Castle (Pat. Rolls, Irel. ;
Irish Statutes ; Morrin's Pat. Rolls ; Fiants).

And in connexion with Kilkenny county, where a branch had
become seated at Kells, we find, in 1559, Walter ; in 1572, Stephen ;
and in 1583, Thomas, who were active in maintaining English rule
(Fiants; Morrin's Pat. Rolls).

APPENDIX. 161

APPENDIX G.

RECTORS AND PREBENDARIES OF HOWTH, 1600-1700.

1610. Christopher Hewetson.

Sometime Treasurer of Christ Church Cathedral,
Dublin, and Treasurer of Ardfert Cathedral.
[Curate : 1615, Martin Cod.]
1636. Thomas Lloyd.

Sometime Chancellor of Dromore.

[Curates: 1639, Eusebius Roberts; 1644, Humphrey
Vaughan ; 1645, John Butler.]
1660. William Sheridan.

Afterwards Bishop of Kilmore and Ardagh.
1671. Patrick Grattan, D.D.

Sometime a Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin, and
Chaplain to the first Duke of Ormond.

In 1615 the church of Howth was returned as in good repair, and
provided with books, but in 1630, although the chancel was " well,"
the body of the church was said to be in decay, and to want slates and
glazing. The prebend was then estimated as worth £80 per annum,
and was said to be entitled, in addition, to twenty acres of land, twelve
houses, and sixty-five shillings chief rent, which were detained by Lord
Howth and the representatives of Bealing of Bealingstown.

(Regal Visitation of 1615 in Public Record Office ; Archbishop
Bulkeley's Report in " Irish Ecclesiastical Record," v. 145 ; Visitation
and Title Books.)

appp:ndix h.

CADETS OF THE HOUSE OF HOWTH, 1600-1800.

Amongst the cadets mentioned in those centuries there appear : —
In 1614, George, who rendered good service in Denmark; in 1639,
Thomas of the Co. Tipperary ; in 1640, Bartholomew, who served as
a captain in the army abroad; in 1647, John, who was a chaplain in
the Leinster army ; in 1649, Edward, who held with Cromwell, and
narrowly escaped being taken by the Irish ; in 1658, Patrick of
Lusk ; in 1670, Christopher of Stoneybatter in Dublin; in 1571,
Christopher, who married then Martha Boulter ; in 1684, Thomas of
Lusk; in 1685, Nicholas of Wicklow ; in 1723, George, who had a*
son called Joseph ; in 1725, Robert, who married then Mary

162 HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

Duckinfield ; in 1740, Francis, who married tlien Esther Jones; and
in 1784, Gregory of King Street in Dublin, (State Papers, Ireland ;
Dublin Grants ; Chancery Decrees.)

In connexion with Londonderry, there appear : — in 1632, George,
and in 1728, Thomas. (Chancery Decree.)

As connected with Loutli we find, in 1(547, Christopher, of
Crucetown and Cheeverstown, who was then serving in the Confederate
army, and said to be of " an ancient and noble family, whereof none
hitherto had been a burden to the public"; and as more particularly
identified with Drogheda in 1633, Roland who was an alderman ;
and in 1634, John who was a merchant, and Thomas who was a
captain. (State Papers, Ireland ; Funeral Entries ; Wills.)

APPENDIX I.

RECTORS AND PREBENDARIES OF HOWTH, 1700-1800.

1704. Robert G rattan, M.A.

[On October 10, 1721, Archbishop King wrote to him
asking him to lend the bells of the old church of
Howth to St Ann's Churcli, in Dublin, which
the Archbishop was then about to consecrate.]
1723. Samuel Webber, M.A.

[Curate : 1739, Ralph Gregory.]
1742. Jolm Jackson, M.A.

1750. Arthur Mahon, LL.B.

Sometime Archdeacon of Achonry and Vicar-General
of Killala.

[Curate : 1751, Mervyn Archdall.]
1752. John Walls, M.A.

Sometime Archdeacon of Achonry and Vicar-General
of Killala.

[On April 15, 1754, John Walls furnished, as Pre-
bendary of Howth and Curate of Howth, Raldoyle,
and Kilbarrack, the following terrier: — "The
Prebend of Howth, and the Curacies of Howtb,
Delldoyle, and Kilbarrack, consist in the great and
small tithes of the following townlands — that is to
say : Kilbarrack, Warren House, Steapolin, Maine,
Swan's Nest, Whip-of-the-Water, Howth, Sutton,
Censure, Studd Walls, Bodeen, Kitestown,— and in
tithe of fish. The city of Dublin is also pleased to
pay the curate of Belldoyle ten pounds yearly."]

APPENDIX. 163

1755. John Wynne, M.A.

[In 1766 John Wynne made a return showing that
in the parishes of Howth, Baldoyle, and Kilbarrack
there were twenty-nine families of the Protestant
religion and two hundred and two of the Roman
Catholic religion ; and in 1768 he made another, in
which he stated that the church was in ruins, that
service was performed in a house given by Lord
Howth, and that he served the cure himself, and
resided in a house of his own building in the parish
of Baldoyle.]

1771. William Blachford, M.A.

1773. Moses Eoquier, M.A.

1774. Thomas Stewart, B.A.

[Curate : 1783, William Connor.]
1789. Walter Blake Kirwan.

Afterwards Dean of Killala.
[On June 12, 1799, a grant towards building a new

church was made.]
(Title Books ; King's Correspondence ; Parliamentary

Pieturns.)

APPENDIX K.

PARISH PRIESTS OF HOWTH, 1600-1800.

Circa 1630. William Canon Shergoll.

Circa 1665. James Canon Begg.

Circa 1700. Charles Smyth.

[In a Parliamentary Return in 1704 Charles Smyth
is stated to have been then fifty-six years of age, to
have been ordained in 1677, in Dublin, by Patrick
Plunkett, Bishop of Meath, and to have resided in
Baldoyle.]

1712. Luke Fagaii.

Afterwards successively Bishop of Meath and Arch-
bishop of Dublin.

1713. Edward Treacy.

[In a Parliamentary Return in 1731 there are stated
to have been in the parishes of Howth, Baldoyle,
and Kilbarrack " Two mass-houses, one priest,
and one Popish school."]
M 2

164 HOWTH AND ITS OWXEES.

Circa 1750. Father Taaffe.

17G9. John Moran.

1777. William Anderson.

1778. Christopher Wall.

1783. James Hall.

1784. John Baptist Hamilton.
179C). Hugh Brady.

[Bishop of Canea, op. cit., pp. 55-59.]

APPENDIX L.

THE FURNITURE OF THE HOUSE OF HOWTH, 1746-52.

In a book preserved in Howth Castle there are four inventories of
the contents of the Castle, compiled, respectively, on May 3, 1746,
April 26, 1748, July 5, 1751, and April 9, 1752, and an inventory
of the contents at the same period of Lord Howth's Dublin house,
which has been printed by the Georgian Society. The following are
extracts showing the contents of some of the principal rooms in Howth
Castle : —

The Great Hall.

Eighteen oak chairs ; large roan table ; clock ; square deal
breakfast table ; fifty large fowling pieces ; forty-seven bayonets ;
two back swords ; servants' hand-bell ; a sea-triumph ; five pairs of
stags' horns ; a large tortoise-shell ; two pairs of elk horns ; the great
sword of Howth; and three pieces of old armour.

The Dining Parlour (now the Billiard Room).

Gilt leather screen ; square mahogany dining table ; small
mahogany dining-table ; black and white marble side-table; black
and white marble cistern ; mahogany bottle-tray ; fourteen walnut
chairs, horse-hair seats, calf-skin covers ; small mahogany table ;
round mahogany drinking-table ; floor cloth ; moving grate, with
big pillars ; brass-mounted fire-irons, wire brass fender ; two large
busts ; brass lock and key ; two-leaf screen ; and six prints, viz. :
Morning, Noon, Evening, and Night, Ann of Cleves, and Southwark
Fair.

The Out Parlour.

Large black and white marble table, a mahogany frame ; large
mahogany dining-table ; fourteen walnut chairs covered with Spanish
leather ; brass stove-grate fixed ; iron fender ; two brass locks.

APPENDIX. 165

My Lady's Bedchamber (now part of the Dining-room).

Kaised tester scarlet English damask bed, complete ; three sets of
window curtains ; six small stuffed back and seat chairs ; damask
cases and red cloth serge cases ; two easy chairs, with damask cases
and cloth serge cases ; feather-bed and bolster ; broad-cloth under-
blanket ; two pairs of silk blankets ; Manchester counterpane ; white
mattress ; mahogany bureau and book-case, with looking-glass door ;
large china punch-bowl; two china canisters ; two china bottles; two
tea-pots ; two china Turks ; chimney glass and snake arms, London
gilt ; three painted flower-pieces over doors ; the Siege of Buda, by
Harrath, over the chimney ; large moving grate, with brass pillars ; set
of brass-mounted fire-irons ; brass fender ; Indian screen ; strong box
■on a frame ; japanned box ; walnut escritoire ; black japanned box ;
ninety-nine great and small pictures on the arch ; three mortice locks ;
and large carpet, by Mr. Hogarth.

Amongst the prints in the arch were : the Rake's Progress ; the
Liberal Arts ; Piobert Boyle ; Marquis of Montrose ; General Lambert ;
Julius Caesar ; Cardinal de Fieury ; and Raphael ; and there are also
noticed two Dutch dolls in ivory frames, eighteen cut-paper pictures,
and two pieces of shell-work.

My Lady's Dressing-koom.

Dressing-glass in swinging walnut frame, diamond cut ; large
■chimney glass ; walnut writing-table on castors ; six walnut chairs,
•chintz cases ; brass-mounted grate ; set of brass-mounted fire-irons ;
brass fender ; seventeen glazed prints ; scroll mahogany writing-table ;
small mahogany tea-chest ; four small brackets ; a large bracket ; small
;gilt bust ; two pair blue door-curtains.

My Lord's Dressing-room.

Large pier sconce in a walnut frame, diamond cut ; delf fountain
and basin ; six walnut chairs covered with Spanish leather ; deal
■dressing-table ; oak stool covered with Spanish leather ; quilted stool ;
pair of tables ; walnut escritoire ; brass-mounted grate ; set brass-
mounted fire-irons ; brass fender ; Scotch carpet ; seven guns ; two
•cases of large brass-mounted pistols ; one case of screw-barrel pistols ;
two cases of pocket-pistols ; four cases of steel-mounted pistols ; a pair
■of backgammon tables ; two hunting poles, a dagger on one, and a
bayonet on the other.

The Great Dining-room (now the Drawing-room).

Three pairs yellow damask window curtains, linings and tassels,
And six lace bridles; eighteen walnut chairs, covered with yellow

166 JIOWTH AND ITS OWNEKS.

tlaniask and yellow cloth serge cases ; two settees, yellow daiuask
covers and yellow serge cases ; two large Italian marble tables, and
black Spanish leather cases, lined with baize, and walnut frames ; two
Indian screens ; two small Indian trunks on frames ; square Indian
box on a frame, and a small Indian trunk on it ; two mahogany card-
tables ; two large pier sconces, burnished gold ; small filigree cabinet
on a frame of the same ; picture of the late Lord Howth ; two old
family pictures ; Dean Swift, a whole length, by Mr. Bindon ; picture
of Master William St. Lawrence ; picture of Master Gorges ; tea
equipage of fine burnished china, viz. : tea-pot, cream-jug, sugar-dish
and cover, slop-bowl, six coffee cups ; a fine raised china tea-pot and
dish, six cups and saucers; two china beggar-men; Indian tea-
board on a black frame ; four gilt busts ; two large white china
flower-pots ; two landscapes, by Carver, over the doors ; two large
china lions on brackets ; four family pictures, oval gilt frames ; a pair
of fine carved brandies on the chimney, London gilt ; two white busts
on brackets ; curiosities in china and paste, and Turkish figures on
the chimney and cabinets and on the glass-case, 168 pieces ; a fine
six-leaf varnished screen, scarlet ground ; a large settee grate, iron
mounting; set of fire-irons, roan heads; iron fender; and German
pair of chamber bellows. [The prospect of the house of Howth
appears only in the inventory of 1752.]

The Castle 13ed Chamber.

Blue silk mohair raised tester bed, lined with lutestring, complete ;
feather-bed and bolster, Flanders' tick; pair of English blankets;
broad-cloth under-blanket ; white satin quilt ; Holland mattress ;
down pillows ; eight mahogany chairs, stuffed back and seat, covered
with blue mohair and Persian scarves, and blue cloth serge cases ; two
easy-chairs ; mahogany writing-table, with a drawer ; small japanned
Indian desk on a black frame ; large mahogany clothes chest and red
leather cover ; large eight-leaf Indian screen ; twelve green varnished
dressing-boxes; black japanned small box; swinging looking-glass ;
set of Indian boxes in a frame ; two straAV powder boxes ; small
tortoise-shell trunk, done with silver ; picture of the Virgin Mary in
crayons, with a looking-glass plate in front ; Madam Salle, a print
glazed ; the games of Puss in the Corner and Dropped Handkerchiefs,
two prints glazed ; Venus in a carved gilt frame ; large moving grate,
with brass pillars ; set of brass-mounted fire-irons ; brass fender ;
needle-work fire-screen, with a mahogany pole ; brass lock and key;
two iron locks on the closets ; brass bells ; and two pairs of blue
mohair window-curtains, lined with blue paragon.

APPENDIX. 167

APPENDIX M.

HECTORS AND PREBENDARIES OF HOWTH, 1800-1900.

1800. John Lewis, B.A.

[In 1812 the Board of First Fruits granted £600
towards the cost of a new parish church, and the
Privy Council authorized a change of site ; in 1814
the site on which the parish church stands was
given by Lord Howth ; and in 1816 the church
which was then erected upon it was consecrated.]
1826. Charles Smith, B.A.

Afterwards Vicar-General of Elphin.
1833. Arthur Irwin, B.A.

Afterwards Dean of Ardfert.
1847. James Howie, M.A.

Afterwards Dean of Cloyne.
1847. Robert Staveley, M.A.

1849. John O'Regan, B.A.

Afterwards Archdeacon of Kildare.
1852. William Robert Lawrenson, B.A.

[In 1866 the church consecrated in 1816 was replaced
by the present one.]
1873. Robert Shaw Kerr, M.A.

1912. John Powell, M.A.

APPENDIX N.

PARISH PRIESTS OF HOWTH, 1800-1900.

1806. Thomas Rorke.

1813. John Joseph Smyth.

[In 1814 a new church was erected on a site given by
the second Earl of Howth.]
1818. Michael Bernard Keogh, O.S.F.C.

1831. William Young.

1838. John White.

1850. Paul (Canon) Smithwick.

1881. Bernard Dennan.

1889. Joseph (Archdeacon) Flanagan.

[In lb99 the present church was dedicated.]
1907. James Colohan.

168 HOWTH AND ITS OWXEES.

APPENDIX 0.

INSCRIPTION ON THE TOMB AT HOWTH.

Professor R. A. S. Macalister, litt.d., has written the foUowmg
note oil his drawing of the inscription facing p. 51 : —

" The inscription is weather-worn to such an extent that it is
almost invisible, and to decipher it needs the closest possible atten-
tion. The following reading is based partly on an examination of the
original stone, and partly on rubbings ; the latter have the advantage
of clearness in the case of some of the most badly worn parts of the
legend :

HIC lACENT CEISTOFERUS DE SANCTO LAUREXT' DOMINUS / ET
ANNA DUMINE^ FILIA . . .' PLUNKET* DE KATOAt/h OBITUS IN*
CRISTO DOMINE^ ANNO DOMINI 5ICCCC SEXTO II QUORUM
ANIMABUS / DEUS PROPICIETUR ' ME FECIT*

" 1. There may, perhaps, be an apostrophe here, denoting the
abbreviation of the name. It is, however, impossible to be sure.

" 2. This word should be domina, but the traces are not consistent
with a final a. There is a curve, clearly appearing in the rubbing,
which looks more like the back of an e (in the Lombardic character
used in the inscription) than anything else. I have therefore written
it as E.

" 3. About three letters here, totally defaced.

** 4. The UNK in this name is written in ligature.

" 5. This word is abbreviated, being represented by an i with a
horizontal stroke crossing it.

" 6. This word should of course be domino, but there is certainh/
a final e, not o. The writer of the inscription became confused
betw^een ' Domina Anna,' ' Domin(a)e Ann(a)e,' ' Anno Domini,' and
' Christo Domino.' The name ' Cliristo ' is spelt without the h.

" 7. The maker's name is totally defaced, only a few unintelligible
marks being visible. It seems from the space it occupied to have
contained about nine letters.

" 8. These words, me fecit, and presumably the name that preceded
them, are in ordinary Roman capitals ; the rest of the inscription, as
stated above, is in Lombardic lettering."

( 169 )

INDEX

Adam, Lord of Howtli, d 1325, 35-G ;

sheriff, 36 ;

succession CDiitested. 35.
Adam, Lord of Howth, d 1334, 37.
Aideen, 14.

Allen, Jiilin, architect, 8S.
Almeric, Lord of Howth, c IISO, 5, 23-6 ;

connexion with de Courcj', 5, 23 :

his children, 25 ;

Irish campaigns, 25 ;

lands in Ulster, 23-4 ;

re!>uted conquest of Howth, 5, 24 ;

traditional name of Tristram, 5, 24.
Almeric, Lord of Howih, c 1200, 27-31 :

confiriiiation in Howth, 28 ;

knighted, 29 ;

relation with clergy, 29.
Amlaib, 21.
Anselm, Father, 117.
Archdall, Rev. Mervyn, 132.
Armstroni;, E. C. K., description by, 40.
Artain, 49, 61, 64.
Ashpole, Stephen, c 1670, 119.
Aspoor, Patrick, c 1670, 119.
Aston, clerical charlatan, 97.
Athairne, Celtic poet, 13.

JJaily, The :

fort at, 11-3;

lighthouse at, 2, 11-2;

seals at, 128.
Baldongan, 60, 65, 71.
Baldoyle, 32-3, 49, 112, 120-1, 132, 153.
Balgriffin, 91.
Ballyspellan, 138.
Balseadden, 4, 128.
Bealings, The, 114, 161.
Beresfords, The :

ghost story, 135 ;

house of Howth allied to, 135, 142.
Berfords, Tlie, 18, 60, 115, 139.
Berniinghams, The :

assassination of, 37 ;

of Baldongan, 60.
Bosquet, Abraham, 127 ;

his poem quoted, 14, 26, 127-9.

Bowen, Vice-Admiral George, 148.
Brian, Nicholas, 114.
Burniston, John, 115-6.
Byron, Jolin, 124.

Canea, Bishop of, quo'ed, 90, 117, 164.
Carrickbrae, 3, 21, 150.
Castleknock, 27, 28, 31, 38.
CastlepoUard, Fair of, 139.
Castles :

Corr Castle, 28, 97, 113 ;

description of, 45-6, 61, 88 ;
race course at, 150.
Early Castle, The, 26, 30.
Howth Casile, passim ;

additions to. 44, 70, 77, 88, 133,

151;
called the court, 128 ;
chief governors at, 39, 49, 92, 96,

123, 138 ;
description of, 7, 113 ,
furniture of, 133-4, 164 ;
gardens of, 8, 113, 133;
gateway tower of, 8, 97, 113 ;
hearths in, 115 ;
musicians in, 90 ;
privy councils at, 92 ;
prospect of, 133-4, 166 ;
tablets on, 70, 133 ;
William III and, 125.
Census of 1659-60, 114.
Christopher, Lord Howth, d 1462, 41, 49-52;
called to upper house, 51 ;
character, 49 ;
interest in mining, 49 ;
joins Duke of York, 50 ;
knighted, 50 ;
protects Fingal, 50 ;
tomb of, 41.
Christopher, Lord Howth, d 1542, 60-5 ;
character, 62 ;
knighted, 61 ;

known to Thomas Cromwell, 62 ;
opposes Silken Thomas, 61 ;
owns hawks, 62 ;
part in Reformation, 63.

170

HOWTH AND ITS OWNEES.

70-9:

CinUlopbei. Lord Howtli, d 1589, 63,
called the blind lord, 72 ;
character, 71, 77 ;
enlarges castle, 70, 77 ;
in Liiiciiln's Inn, 63, 72 ;
knighted, 73 ;
opposes taxation, 74 ;
received by Elizabeth, 72 ;
serves against O'Keill, 72—3 ;
upholds parliament, 74.
Christopher, Lord Howih. d 1619, 81-7,
93-IO.t;

character, 93 ;

favourite of James I, 99, 103 ;
governor of Monaghan, 86 ;
in conflict with Archbishop Jones, 100 ;
with Sir G. Moore, 97 ;
with Sir R. Jones, 101 ;
intimate with Essex, 82 ;
knighted, 81 ;
known to Cecil, 84 ;
part in flight of the earls, 94-6 ;
received by Elizabeth, 81, 83 ;
relations with Chichester, 96-103 ;
serving in Leinster, 81 ;

in the Netherlands, 93 ;
under Mountjoy, 85.
Churches :

Ireland's Eye :

description of, 18 ;
manuscript of, 19 ;
St. Fintan's, 113, 117 ;

description of, 19 ;
St. Mary's. 59, 92, 108, 113, 132, 161 :
bells of, 47, 162;
description of, 29, 47 ;
tomb in, 40-4, 124, 141 ;
within demesne, 132.
Cinaedh, prince of Bregia, 21
Clontarf, 27, 30, 57 ;

battle of, 22.
Cochrane, Dr., quoted, 19, 20, 29.
College, The, 108;

description of, 47.
ComM-alshes, The, 27, 30, 32, 44.
Correston, 3, 115, and under Castles.
Crimtbann, King, 11, 17.
Cromlech, 14 ;

deescription of, 9.

Dawson, Hon. and Rev. Wni., on harbour,
145-9.

Delany, Mrs., her visit, 129.
Diarniuid, 14.
Dongau, Thomas, 115.
Drogheda, 53, 65, 67.
Drumleck, 4, 14, 152.
Dunbo, Fort of, 4, 13.

Earlscliffe, 152.

Edward, L(.rd Howth, d 1549, 65.

Ellis, Abraham, 115.

Ferguson, Sir Samuel, 1 ;

his poem, 14.
Fintan, St., 19.
Fitzw illiani, John, 123;

Mary, 116;

Richard, 123 ;

Thomas 1st Yiscount, 110, 123 ;.

William, 115.
Flann, King of Etar, 21.

Gaisford, Julian, 154.
George IV at Howth. 149.
Gorges, Hamilton, 140, 141.

Lieut. -Gen. Richard, 135 ;

Richard, 136, 141.
Gough, William, of Sutton, 113, 115.
Graltans, Tlie, 117, 125 ;

Dr. James, 126, 137, 141 ;

Henry, quoted, 132 ;

Rev. John, 126 ;

Rev. Patrick, 117, 161;

Rev. Robert. 125, 162.

Hackctts, The, 45.
Harbour, The, 145-150;

Old, The, 113.
Hearth Money Rolls, 115.
Helsham, Dr., c 1725, 126.
Henry, Lord of Howth, c 1250, 31.
Hensiiaw, Dr., c 1670. 124.
Ililliard, Robert, c 1670, 119.
Hodgier, Robin, c 1670, 119.
Howth, passim ;

battles at, 17, 21-2;

bathing at, 127-8;

boating to, 129 ;

Book of, 23, 57, 72, 74, 77 ;

bridge of, 24 ;

brooks of, 4, 24 ;

crosses on, 20 ;

curates of, 90, 132, 161-3 ;

INDEX.

171

Howth :

deeds relating to, 27-9, 155-6 ;

forts on, 10-3, 21 ;

Gibraltar compared to, 147 ;

hills of, 3 ;

inhabitants of, 33, 45, 91, 114-6, ll'J,

151-2 ;
isthmus of, 1, 2 ;
mining on, 49, 130 ;
name, 3, 21 ;
name, ancient, 9, 10 ;
oaks on, 15 ;

parish priests of, 90-1, 117, 163, 167 ;
pestilence at, 33 ;
poems on, 14-6, 26, 127-9;
quarries on, 113, 130;
rectors of, 33, 47, 90, 117, 132, 158-9,

161-3, 167 ;
rhododendrons at, 1 ;
sea water from, sold, 130 ;
seals at, 128 ;
siege on, 13 ;
smugglers at, 128, 131 ;
surveys of, 112 ;
tithes of, 113 ;
townlands of, 2, 3 ;
troops at, 121, 151 ;
turnpikes near, 150 ;
vicars of, 34, 47, 158-9 ;
warren of, 113;
waterniill at, 113 ;
wells on, 4.
Howth, Earls of, see succession, p. 7, and
under Christian names :
Daughters of,

Catherine m Viscount Dungarvau,

152;
Catherine m James J. Wheble,

153;
Elizabeth tn Lieut. -Gen. Paulus

Irving, 143 ;
Elizabeth m Sir Edward E.

Borough, 152 ;
Emilj' m Thomas Gaisford, 153 ;
Frances /« Venble. James Phillott,

143 ;
Geraldine, 154;
Harriet m Arthur F. St. George,

152;
Henrietta m Capt.B. L. Guinness,

154;
Isabella m Lord Sydney, 142 ;
Isabella m Earl of Annesley, 152 ; I

Howth, Earls of :

Daughters of,

Marg.iiet in Sir C. Compton

Domvile, 154 ;
Mary m Clifford Trotter, 152 :
Mary, 153;

Matilda m Major William Burke,
152;
Sons of,

Henry, 142 ;

Thomas, Bishop of Cork, 142 ;
Thomas Kenelm, 154;
Wives of,

Emily dau of Earl of Claiiricarde,

153 ;
Henrietta dau of Peter Barfoot,

153;
Isabella dau of Sir Heniy King,

141;
Margaret dau of William Burke,

152;
Mary dau of Earl of Louth, 152.
Howtli, House of, Cadets of,

Almeric, Sir, e 1290, 36 ;
Christopher, c 1660, 114;
John, c 1350, 39;
Lionel, c 1180, 25 ;
Michael, f? 1713, 119, 123 ;
Eichard, c 1660, 115 ;
Robert, d 1637, 108;
Walter, c 1325, 37;
William, c 1325, 37;
of CO. Dublin, 157, 160, 161 ;
of CO. Kilkenny, 160 ;
of CO. Louth, 32, 59, 157, 160, 162 ;
Story of the, 5 ;
Sword of, 5, 133.
Howth, Lords of, see succession, p. 6, and under
Christian names :
Daughters of,

Alison m 1 John jS'etterville, 2

Patrick White, 60 ;
Alison m 1 George Fitzgerald,.

2 William Heron, 64 ;
Alison m John Golding, 65 ;
Alison m Thomas Luttrell, 93 ;
Anne m Walter Golding, 56 ;
Anne m Thumas Cusack, 60 ;
Anne m Bartholomew Dillon, 65 ;
Catherine m Sir John Plunkett,

60;
Elinor m Sir Walter Cheevers, 60 ;
Elinor c 1600, 93 ;

172

HOWTH AND ITS OWNERS.

Ilowth, Lords of :

Daiigbtt'is of,

Elizabeth m Tlionias Netterville,

60;
Elizabeth ni I Edward liice, 2

Doiiiiniek Quin, 126 ;
Frances in Sir James Mont-

goinery, 123 ;
Genet III Thomas FitzSimons, 56 ;
Joan »( Robert Preston, 64 ;

Miirgarel m Cashell. 64 ;

Maigaret m 1 William Fitz-
william, 2 Michael Berford,
79;
Margaret m 1 Viscount Gormans-

ton, 2 Earl of Fingal, 93 ;
Marian wi 1 Sir C. Nugent, 2 Sir
G. FitzGerald, 3 John Parker,
60 ;
Martha c 1649, 122 ;
Manila »H Hugh O'Neill, ]25;
Mary »i Sir Patrick liarnewall,

75 ;
Miiry m William Eustace, 93 ;
Mary m Earl of Jlount- Alexan-
der, 125;
Maiy m Sir Richard Gethin, 141 ;
Sarah m TliDmas Stepney, 125 ;
Susan m Michael St . Lawrence,
123;
Sons of,

Aln.eric, Clerk of Rolls, c 1460,

52;
Almeric, c 1660, 60, 64;
Almeric, d 1622, 93, 109 ;
Charles, c 1671, 124;
Christopher, Archdeacon, c 1540,

56 ;
Edward, barrister, d 1639, 93,

108 ;
II.Muy, (< 1737, 126, 139;
John, c 1565, 64 ;
Leonard d 1608, 7ft ;
J,i()nel, Prebendary, c 1460, 52 ;
Nicholas, c 1727, 126;
Oliver, c 1727, 126;
Richnrd, c 1630, 79, 91, 108 ;
Richani, d 1660, 93, 107, 109,

122 ;
Robert, c 1616, 00, 6t;
Thomas, c 1460, 52;
Thomiis, Justice King's Bench,
d 1558, 56, 63 ;

Howth, Lords of :
Sons of,

Thomas, d 1600, 78;

Thomas, captain, c 1645, 93, 108,

121-2;
Thomas, c 1649, 122 ;
Walter, Chief Baron, d 1504, 52,

59;
Walter, c 1500, 56 ;
Wiilter, c 1540, 60, 64;
William, Admiral, c 1460, 52 ;
William, c 1490, 55, 58;
William, d 1749, 141 ;
Wives of,

Alice dau of Nicholas While, 54 ;
Alicia dau of John Plunkett, 38 ;
Alison dau of James Fitzl.yons,

05;
Alison dau of Robert FitzSimons,

60 ;
Amy Berminghani, GO ;
Anne dau of Thomas Berford, 60 ;
Anne Plunkett, 41, 51, 52 ;
Catherine FitzGerald, 67 ;
Cecily dau of Henry Cusack, 78 ;
Elinor dau of Sir R. Holywood,

49 ;
Elinor dau of William Lynne,

120:
Elizabeth dau of Nicholas Lord

Howth, 123;
Elizabeth dau of Sir John

Plunkett, 70, 72 ;
EJizabeth dau of John Went-

worth, 104, 107;
Genet daxi of Lord Killeen, 60 ;
Isabella dau of William Pilate,

35;
Jane dau of Bishop Montgomery,

105, 121-3;
Joan dau of Duke of Somerset,

54;
Lucj' dau of liieut.-Gen. R.

Gorges, 135 ;
Margaret dau of Sir Christopher

Barnewall, 79 ;
Mary dau of Viscount Barnewall,

rib;

Mary dau of Sir Nicholas White,
79.
Hutchinson, Robert, c 1800, 142.

Ireland's Eye, 1-4, 16, 21, 127;

INDEX.

173

Ireland's Kye :

Bosquet on, 130 ;

foxes on, 150 ;

murder on, 151 ;

name of, 3, 16 ;

owners)iip of, 62 ;

proposed as site for docks, 146.
Irgalach, King, 17.

Jackson, Rev. John, 141.

Kilbarrack, 49, 51-2, 112.

Killester, 44, 54, 57, 64, 71, 122.

Kilrock, 4, 152.

"Kinsaley, 27.

Kirwan, Rev. Walter Blake, 132.

Lancaster, Prince Thomas of, 33, 39.
Lea, Thomas, 115.
Leinstermen, Battle of, 22.
Lighthouse, 2, 11, 12 ;

Old, 118, 125, 128, 145;

Quay for, 125.
Lightfoot, Thomas, 115.
Lutyens, E. L., 7.

MacaJister, R. A. S., tomb inscription de-
ciphered by, 168.
.Mac Cumhaill, Finn, 14.
Malachy, King, 22.
Malihide, 27.

Mermaid, The Story of a, 143.
Montgomery, Geoffrey, 26, 39.
Blount-Alexander, Hugh, 1st Earl of, 123.
Munstermen, Battle of, 22.
Mystics, The, 150.

Needles, The, 3.
Nessan, The Sons of, 16.
x^ewcomen. Sir Thomas, 115-7.
Nicholas, Lord of Howth, c. 1187, 27.
Nicholas, Lord of Howth, c. 1270, 34 ;

knighted, 34.
Nicholas, Lord of Howth, d 1404, 38-9 ;

on great council, 38 ;

succeeded as a minor, 38.
Nicholas, Lord of Howth, d 1526, 56-60 ;

appointed chancellor, 59 ;

entertains Sir J. Butler, 57 ;

knighted, 58 ;

opposes Lanihert Simnel, 56 ;

serves in Connaught, 59.

Nicholas, Lord Howth, d 1607, 75, 79-81,
84-5, 91-3;

devotion to the Pale, 79 ;

entertains Chichester, 92 ;

fox-hunting, 92 ;'

in charge of county, 85 ;

joined with the Nugents, 79;

knighted, 79 ;

moderates the Pale, 85 ;

professes Roman Catholic religion, 91 ;

received by Elizabeth, 84 ;

serves against Tyrone, 81.
Nicholas, Lord Howth, d 1644, 105-11 ;

active in civil life, 106, 107, 109 ;

assists Ormond, 110 ;

impoverished, 110 ;

service in rebellion, 109.

O'Keeffe, John, actor, 129;

quoted, 142.
Ormond, James, 1st Duke of, 110, 120, 123 ^

James, 2nd Duke of, 125.
Osbertstown, 79.
Oscar, 14.
Ossory, Thomas, Earl of, 124.

Page, Sir T. H., on harbour, 147.

Partholon, 9.

Petrifactions, 4 n, 129.

Physicians, Fees of, 1727, 126.

Platten, 79, 109.

Poer, Roger le, 26.

Port, 21, 32, 44, 88, 131, and under Harbour ^

chief governors using, 33, 44, 69, 123 ;

dues payable to Dublin corporation,
44, 54;

fishery at, 33, 88, 113, 131, 151 ;

labourers sailing from, 33 ;

letters sent in row-boats from, 89, 110;

packet-boat at, in 1605, 89;

pirates near, 70, 89 ;

quay of, 69, 95 ;

ships using, 33, 54, 70, 89, 121, 149 ;

shipwrecks near, 70, 89, 117-9, 151.
Puck's Rock, 19, 128.

Radmore, John, c 1670, 119.
Raheny, 28, 32 ;

Lord Howth's house at, 77, 123 ;

called St. Lawrence's Hall, 119^
Rat, The Tale of a, 143.
Ratoath, 52, 135.

174

HOWTH AND ITS OWXEES.

Reading, Sir Robert, 118.

Rebellions, 40, 56, 58, 61, 109.

Refornuition, The, 63.

Reiinif, John, 149.

Ri.f, Miss, 139, 141.

Richfird, Lord Uowth, d 1558, 63, 65-7 ;

at I^iiK-olii's Inn, 63 ;

in civil life, 66 ;

skill as a soldit^r, 65 ;

tomb to, at Droghe(ia, 67.
Robert, Lord Howth, d I486, 52-6 ;

appointed chancellor, 55 ;

character, 53 ;

died in London, 55 ;

makes great alliance, 54 ;

member of Order of St. George, 54 ;

protecting Fingal, 53.
Riigers, 'i'lionias, on liarl)Oiir, 145-9.
Roses, Wars of, o 1 .
Round, Dr., quoted, 74, 77.

St. Fintan, 19.

Sanier. 113, 115, 129.

Shelniartin, 4, 11, 19.

Shergoll, Rev. William, 91, 108-9, 122.

Sitric, 29.

Skinner, Captain, 149.

Slane, Lords of, 108-9.

Sport :

coiuhing, 142 ;

fo.\-hunting, 90, 92, 129 ;

hare-hunting, 90, 109, 119 ;

hawking, 34, 62, 76, 90 ;

horse-racing, 130, 153;

stag-hunting, 153.
Stanihurst, Richard, 94 ;

(juoted, 78.
Steevens, Dr., bust of, 135.
Stephen, Lord of Howth, d 1435, 49.
Stokes, Edward, 114 ;

Joan, 114.
Studwall's, 3, 115.
Suirge, 10.
Sutton, 2, 3, 45, 112, 117, 119, 129 ;

family of, 33 ;

house at, 88, 113, 115-6, 151.
Swift, Jonathan, 88, 132, 134, 137-8.

Taaffes, The, 38.

Thomas, Lord Howth, d 1649, 107, 120-2 ;

succeeds as heir presumptive, 120.
Thomas, Lord Howth, d 1727, 125-6;

elegy on, 126.

Thomas, Earl of Howth, d 1801, 141-2 ;

alliance with the Beresfords, 142 ;

commissioner of great seal, 141 ;

created viscount and earl, 141 ;

educated in Trinity College, 141 ;

fond of coaching, 142 ;

living at Bath, 142.
Thomas, Earl of Howth, d 1874, 152-4 ;

appointed lord-lieutenant of county,
152;

devotion to the cliase, 153 ;

installed as a Knight of St. Patrick,
152;

patron of the turf, 153.
Treacy, Rev. Edward, 132, 163.

Uaile, Graina, 68.
Ulstermen, besieged, 13.
Ussher, Captain Henry, 116.

Walker, Mr. John, 116.

Ward, The, GO, 65-66, 71-2.

Warren House, 130.

Weav*, Lawrence, quoted, 8.

Webber, Rev. Samuel, 132.

Wellington, Duke of, letter from, 148.

Westropp, Thomas Johnson, descriptions by,

7, 11, 45.
Whites, The, 45, 54, 89, 91, 114.
William, Lord Howth, d 1671, 122-5 ;

educated at Colchester, 122 ;

friend of Earl of Ossory, 124 ;

receives chief governors, 123 ;

service in army, 123.
William, Lord Howth, d 1748, 135-9 ;

book dedicated to, 139 ;

character, 138 ;

entertains Lord Lieutenant, 138 ;

friend of Swift's, 136;

in House of Commons, 135 ;

interested in agriculture, 139 ;

sporting tastes, 138.
William, Earl of Howth, d 1822, 152.
William, Earl of Howth, d 1909, 154;

created Baron of U. K., 154 :

installed a Knight of St. Patricic, 154;

member for Galway, 154.
William III, Reputed visit of, 125. '
WiUoughby, John, 106, 121 ;

Nicholas, 121-3.
Wynne, Peter, 115.

q^6

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